THE  LADY 

AND 

SADA  SAN 

A  SEQUEL  TO  THE  LADV 
OF  THE  DECORATION 


FRANCES  LITTLE 


GIFT   OF 

Estate   of  Florence  Walnjs 
Far  auhai*         _^__ 


The 
Lady  and   Sada  San 


' 

Beautiful  even  in  her  pallor 


The 
Lady  and  Sada  San 

A  Sequel  to 
The  Lady  of  the  Decoration 

By 

Frances   Little 


New  York 

The  Century  Co, 

1912 


Copyright,  1912,  by 
THE  CENTURY  Co. 


Published,  October, 


TO 
ELLEN  CHURCHILL  SEMPLE 

AND 
CHARLOTTE  SMITH 

MY  FELLOW  WANDERERS  THROUGH  THE  ORIENT 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 


llti 


The  Lady  and 
Sada  San 


ON  THE  HIGH  SEAS.     June,  1911. 
Mate: 

You  once  told  me,  before  you  went  to 
Italy,  that  after  having  been  my  inti 
mate  relative  all  these  years,  you  had 
drawn  a  red  line  through  the  word  sur 
prise.  Restore  the  abused  thing  to  its 
own  at  once.  You  will  need  it  when  the 
end  of  this  letter  is  reached.  I  have 
left  Kentucky  after  nine  years  of  stay- 
at-home  happiness,  and  once  again  I 
am  on  my  way  to  Japan — this  time  in 
wifely  disobedience  to  Jack's  wishes. 

What  do  you  think  that  same  Jack 
has  "gone  and  done"!    Of  course  he 
3 

M549880 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

is  right.  That  is  the  provoking  part 
of  Jack;  it  always  turns  out  that  he  is 
in  the  right.  Two  months  ago  he  went 
to  some  place  in  China  which,  from  its 
ungodly  name,  should  be  in  the  fur 
thermost  parts  of  a  wilderness.  Per 
haps  you  have  snatched  enough  time 
from  guarding  the  kiddies  from  a  pre 
mature  end  in  Como  to  read  a  head 
line  or  so  in  the  home  papers.  If  by 
some  wonderful  chance,  between  baby 
prattle,  bumps  and  measles,  they  have 
given  you  a  moment's  respite,  then  you 
know  that  the  Government  has  grown 
decidedly  restless  for  fear  the  energetic 
and  enterprising  bubonic  or  pneumonic 
germ  might  take  passage  on  some  of 
the  ships  from  the  Orient.  So  it  is 
fortifying  against  invasion.  The  Gov 
ernment,  knowing  Jack's  indomitable 
determination  to  learn  everything 
knowable  about  the  private  life  and 
4 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

character  of  a  given  germ,  asked  him 
to  join  several  other  men  it  is  send 
ing  out  to  get  information,  provided  of 
course  the  germ  doesn't  get  them  first. 

Jack  read  me  the  official-looking  doc 
ument  one  night  between  puffs  of  his 
after-dinner  pipe. 

Another  surprise  awaits  you.  For 
once  in  my  life  I  had  nothing  to  say. 
Possibly  it  is  just  as  well  for  the  good 
of  the  cause  that  the  honorable  writer 
of  the  letter  could  not  see  how  my 
thoughts  looked. 

I  glanced  about  our  little  den,  aglow 
with  soft  lights;  everything  in  it 
seemed  to  smile.  Well,  as  you  know  it, 
Mate,  I  do  not  believe  even  you  realize 
the  blissfulness  of  the  hours  of  quiet 
comradeship  we  have  spent  there. 
With  the  great  know-it-all  old  world 
shut  out,  for  joyful  years  we  have 
dwelt  together  in  a  home-made  para- 
5 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

dise.  And  yet  it  seemed  just  then  as 
if  I  were  dwelling  in  a  home-made 
Other  Place. 

The  difference  in  the  speed  of  time 
depends  on  whether  love  is  your  guest 
or  not. 

The  thought  of  the  briefest  interrup 
tion  to  my  content  made  me  feel  like 
cold  storage.  A  break  in  happiness  is 
sometimes  hard  to  mend.  The  blossom 
does  not  return  to  the  tree  after  the 
storm,  no  matter  how  beautiful  the  sun 
shine  ;  and  the  awful  fear  of  the  faint 
est  echo  of  past  sorrow  made  my  heart 
as  numb  as  a  snowball.  To  the  old  ter 
ror  of  loneliness  was  added  fear  for 
Jack's  safety.  But  I  did  not  do  what 
you  naturally  would  prophesy.  After 
seeing  the  look  on  Jack's  face  I 
changed  my  mind,  and  my  protest  was 
the  silent  kind  that  says  so  much.  It 
was  lost !  Already  Jack  had  gone  into 
6 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

one  of  his  trances,  as  he  does  when 
ever  there  is  a  possibility  of  bearding 
a  brand-new  microbe  in  its  den, 
whether  it  is  in  his  own  country  or 
one  beyond  the  seas.  In  body  he  was. 
in  a  padded  chair  with  all  the  comforts; 
of  home  and  a  charming  wife  within 
speaking  distance.  In  spirit  he  was  in 
dust-laden  China,  joyfully  following  the 
trail  of  the  wandering  germ.  Later  on, 
when  Jack  came  to,  we  talked  it  over. 
I  truly  remembered  your  warnings  on 
the  danger  of  impetuosity ;  for  I  choked 
off  every  hasty  word  and  gave  my  con 
sent  for  Jack  to  go.  Then  I  cried  half 
the  night  because  I  had. 

We  both  know  that  long  ago  Jack 
headed  for  the  topmost  rung  of  a  very 
tall  scientific  ladder.  Sometimes  my 
enthusiasm  as  chief  booster  and  en- 
courager  has  failed,^as~lTfrez7  it  meant 
absence  and  risk.  Though  I  have 
7 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

known  women  who  specialized  in  re 
nunciation,  till  they  were  the  only 
happy  people  in  the  neighborhood,  its 
charms  have  never  lured  me  into  any 
violent  sacrifice.  Here  was  my  chance 
and  I  firmly  refused  to  be  the  millstone 
to  ornament  Jack's  neck. 

You  might  know,  Mate?  I  was  hop 
ing  all  the  time  that  he  would  find  it 
quite  impossible  to  leave  such  a  nice 
biddable  wife  at  home.  But  I  learn 
something  new  about  Jack  every  day. 
After  rather  heated  discussion  it  was 
decided  that  I  should  stay  in  the  little 
home.  That  is,  the  heat  and  the  discus 
sion  was  all  on  my  side.  The  decision 
lay  in  the  set  of  Jack's  mouth,  despite 
the  tenderness  in  his  eyes.  He  thought 
the  risks  of  the  journey  too  great  for 
me ;  the  hardships  of  the  rough  life  too 
much.  Bear  me !  Will  men  never  learn 
8 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

that  hardship  and  risk  are  double  cous 
ins  to  loneliness,  and  not  even  related 
to  love  by  marriage? 

But  just  as  well  paint  on  water  as  to 
argue  with  a  scientist  when  he  has 
reached  a  conclusion. 

Besides,  said  Jack,  the  fatherly  Gov 
ernment  has  no  intention  that  petti 
coats,  even  hobbled  ones,  should  be  flit 
ting  around  while  the  habits  and  the 
methods  of  the  busy  insect  were  being 
examined  through  a  microscope  or  a 
telescope.  The  choice  of  instrument  de 
pending,  of  course,  upon  the  activity  of 
the  bug. 

Black  Charity  was  to  be  my  chief-of- 
police  and  comforter-in-general.  Par 
ties — house,  card  and  otherwise — were 
to  be  my  diversion,  and  I  was  to  make 
any  little  trips  I  cared  for.  Well, 
that  's  just  what  I  am  doing.  Of 
9 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

Bourse,  there  might  be  a  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  whether  a  journey  from 
Kentucky  to  Japan  is  a  little  trip. 

I  am  held  by  a  vague  uneasiness  to 
day.  Possibly  it  's  because  I  am  not 
certain  as  to  Jack's  attitude,  when  he 
learns  through  my  letter,  which  is  sail 
ing  along  with  me,  that  I  am  going  to 
Japan  to  be  as  near  him  as  possible.  I 
hope  he  will  appreciate  my  thoughtful- 
ness  in  saving  him  all  the  bother  of  say 
ing  no.  Or  it  might  be  that  my  slightly 
dampened  spirits  come  from  the  discus 
sion  I  am  still  having  with  myself 
whether  it  's  the  part  of  a  dutiful  wife 
to  present  herself  a  wiggling  sacrifice  to 
science,  or  whether  science  should  at 
tend  to  its  own  business  and  lead  not 
into  temptation  the  scientifically  in 
clined  heads  of  peaceful  households. 

You  '11  say  the  decision  of  what  was 
best  lay  with  Jack.  Honey,  there  ?s  the 
10 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

error  of  your  mortal  mind !  In  a  ques 
tion  like  that  my  spouse  is  as  one-sided 
as  a  Civil  War  veteran.  Say  germ-hunt 
to  Jack  and  it  's  like  dar  ^ling  a  gaudy 
fly  before  a  hungry  carp 

I  saw  Jack  off  at  the  station,  and 
went  back  to  the  little  house.  Charity 
had  sent  the  cook  home  and  with  her 
own  hands  served  all  the  beloved  dain 
ties  of  my  long-ago  childhood,  trying  to 
coax  me  into  forget  fulness.  As  yon 
remember,  Mate,  dinner  has  always 
been  the  happiest  hour  of  the  day  in  our 
small  domain.  Now?  Well,  every 
thing  was  just  the  same.  The  only  dif 
ference  was  Jack.  And  the  half  circle 
of  bare  tablecloth  opposite  me  was 
about  as  cheerful  as  a  snowy  afternoon 
at  the  North  Pole.  I  wandered  around 
the  house  for  awhile,  but  every  time  I 
turned  a  corner  there  was  a  memory 
waiting  to  greet  me.  Now  the  merriest 
11 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

of  them  seemed  to  be  covered  with  a 
chilly  shadow,  and  every  one  was  pale 
and  ghostly.  All  night  I  lay  awake, 
playing  at  the  old  game  of  mental  soli 
taire  and  keeping  tryst  with  the  wind 
which  seemed  to  tap  with  unseen  fingers 
at  my  window  and  sigh, 

"Then  let  come  what  come  may 
I  shall  have  had  my  day." 

Is  it  possible,  Mate,  that  my  glorious 
day,  which  I  thought  had  barely  tipped 
the  hour  of  noon,  is  already  lengthen 
ing  into  the  still  shadows  of  evening! 

It  was  foolish  but,  for  the  small  com 
fort  I  got  out  of  it,  I  turned  on  the 
light  and  looked  inside  my  wedding- 
ring.  Time  has  worn  it  a  bit  but  the 
letters  which  spell  "My  Lady  of  the 
Decoration/'  spelled  again  the  old-time 
thrill  into  my  heart. 

What  's  the  use  of  tying  your  heart- 
12 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

strings  around  a  man,  and  then  have 
ambition  slip  the  knot  and  leave  you  all 
a-quiver? 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  stand  in  Jack's 
way  if  germ-stalking  is  necessary  to  his 
success.  Just  the  same,  I  could  have 
spent  profitable  moments  reading  the 
burial  service  over  every  microbe, 
home-grown  and  foreign. 

Really,  Mate,  I  Ve  conscientiously 
tried  every  plan  Jack  proposed  and  a 
few  of  my  own.  It  was  no  use.  That 
day-after-Christmas  feeling  promptly 
suppressed  any  effort  towards  content 
ment. 

At  first  there  was  a  certain  exhilara 
tion  in  catching  pace  with  the  gay  whirl 
which  for  so  long  had  been  passed  by 
for  homier  things.  You  will  remember 
there  was  a  time  when  the  pace  of  that 
same  whirl  was  never  swift  enough  for 
me;  but  my  taste  for  it  now  was  gone, 
13 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

and  it  was  like  trying  to  do  a  two-step 
to  a  funeral  march.  For  once  in  my  life 
I  knew  the  real  meaning  of  that  poor  old 
worn-to-a-frazzle  call  of  the  East,  for 
now  the  dominant  note  was  the  call  of 
love. 

.  I  heard  it  above  the  clink  of  the  tea- 
*cups.  It  was  in  the  swish  of  every  silk 
petticoat.  If  I  went  to  the  theater, 
-church  or  concert,  the  call  of  that  germ- 
ridden  spot  of  the  unholy  name  beat 
into  my  brain  with  the  persistency  of  a 
tom-tom  on  a  Chinese  holiday. 

Say  what  you  will,  Mate,  it  once  took 
all  my  courage  to  leave  those  I  loved 
best  and  go  to  far-away  Japan.  Now  it 
required  more  than  I  could  dig  up  to 
stay — with  the  best  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Pacific. 

The    struggle  was   easy   and   swift. 
The  tom-tom  won  and  I  am  on  my  way 
to  be  next-door  neighbor  to  Jack. 
14 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

Those  whom  it  concerned  here  were 
away  from  home,  so  I  told  no  one 
good-by,  thus  saving  everybody  so 
much  wasted  advice.  If  there  were  a 
tax  on  advice  the  necessities  of  life 
would  not  come  so  high.  Charity  fol 
lowed  me  to  the  train,  protesting  to  the 
last  that  "Marse  Jack  gwine  doubt  her 
velocity  when  she  tell  him  de  truf  bout 
her  lady  going  a-gaddin'  off  by  herse'f 
and  payin'  no  mind  to  her  ole  mammy's 
prosterations."  I  asked  her  to  come 
with  me  as  maid.  She  refused;  said 
her  church  was  to  have  an  ice-cream 
sociable  and  she  had  "to  fry  de  fish." 

This  letter  will  find  you  joyfully  busy 
with  the  babies  and  the  "only  man." 
Blest  woman  that  you  are. 

But  I  know  you.    I  have  a  feeling 

that  you  have  a  few  remarks  to  make. 

So  hurry  up.    Let  us  get  it  off  our 

minds.    Then  I  can  better  tell  you  what 

15 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

I  am  doing.  Something  is  going  to 
happen.  It  usually  does  when  I  am 
around.  I  have  been  asked  to  chap- 
erone  a  young  girl  whose  face  and  name 
spell  romance.  If  I  were  seeking  occu 
pation  here  is  the  opportunity  knocking 
my  door  into  splinters. 

STILL  AT  SEA.     June,  1911. 

Any  time  you  are  out  of  a  job  and 
want  to  overwork  all  your  faculties  and 
a  few  emotions,  try  chaperoning  a 
young  room-mate  answering  to  the 
name  of  Sada  San,  who  is  one-half 
American  dash,  and  the  other  half  the 
unnamable  witchery  of  a  Japanese 
woman;  a  girl  with  the  notes  of  a  lark 
in  her  voice  when  she  sings  to  the  soft 
twang  of  an  old  guitar. 

If,  too,  you  are  seeking  to  study 
psychological  effect  of  such  a  combina 
tion  on  people,  good,  middlin'  and  oth- 
16 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

erwise,  I  would  suggest  a  Pacific  liner 
as  offering  fifty-seven  varieties,  and 
then  some. 

The  last  twinge  of  conscience  I  had 
over  coming,  died  a  cheerful  death. 
I  'd  do  it  again.  For  not  only  is  ro 
mance  surcharging  the  air,  but  fate 
gives  promise  of  weaving  an  intricate 
pattern  in  the  story  of  this  maid  whose 
life  is  just  fairly  begun  and  whom  the 
luck  of  the  road  has  given  me  as  trav 
eling  mate.  Now,  remembering  a  few 
biffs  fate  has  given  me,  I  have  no  burn 
ing  desire  to  meddle  with  her  business. 
Neither  am  I  hungering  for  responsi 
bility.  But  what  are  you  going  to  say 
to  yourself,  when  a  young  girl  with  a 
look  in  her  eyes  you  would  wish  your 
daughter  to  have,  unhesitatingly  gives 
you  a  letter  addressed  at  large  to  some 
"  Christian  Sister "!  You  read  it  to 
find  it  's  from  her  home  pastor,  re- 
17 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

questing  just  a  little  companionship  for 
" a  tender  young  soul  who  is  trying  her 
wings  for  the  first  time  in  the  big  and 
beautiful  world  "I  I  have  a  very  pri 
vate  opinion  about  reading  my  title 
clear  to  the  Christian  Sister  business, 
but  no  woman  with  a  heart  as  big  as  a 
pinch  of  snuff  could  resist  giving  her 
very  best  and  much  more  to  the  slip  of 
a  winsome  maid,  who  confidingly  asks 
it — especially  if  the  sister  has  any 
knowledge  of  the  shadows  lurking  in  the 
beautiful  world. 

Mate,  these  steamers  as  they  sail 
from  shore  to  shore  are  like  giant  the 
aters.  Every  trip  is  an  impromptu 
drama  where  comedy,  farce,  and  often 
startling  tragedy  offer  large  speaking 
parts.  The  revelation  of  human  na 
ture  in  the  original  package  is  funny 
and  pathetic.  Amusement  is  always  on 
18 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

tap  and  life  stories  are  just  hanging 
out  of  the  port-hole  waiting  to  attack 
your  sympathy  or  tickle  your  funny 
bone.  But  you  'd  have  to  travel  far  to 
find  the  beginning  of  a  story  so  heaped 
up  with  romantic  interest  as  that  of 
Sada  San  as  she  told  it  to  me,  one  long, 
lazy  afternoon  as  I  lay  on  the  couch  in 
my  cabin,  thanking  my  stars  I  was  get 
ting  the  best  of  the  bare  tablecloth  and 
the  empty  house  at  home. 

Some  twenty  years  ago  Sada's 
father,  an  American,  grew  tired  of  the 
slow  life  in  a  slow  town  and  lent  ear  to 
the  fairy  stories  told  of  the  Far  East, 
where  fortunes  were  made  by  looking 
wise  for  a  few  moments  every  morn 
ing  and  devoting  the  rest  of  the  day  to 
samisens  and  flutes.  He  found  the 
glorious  country  of  Japan.  The  be 
guiling  tea-houses,  and  softly  swinging 
19 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

sampans  were  all  too  distracting. 
They  sang  ambition  to  sleep  and  the 
fortune  escaped. 

He  drifted,  and  at  last  sought  a  mean 
existence  as  teacher  of  English  in  a 
school  of  a  remote  seaside  village.  His 
spirit  broke  when  the  message  came  of 
the  death  of  the  girl  in  America  who 
was  waiting  for  him.  Isolation  from 
his  kind  and  bitter  hours  left  for 
thought  made  life  alone  too  ghastly. 
He  tried  to  make  it  more  endurable  by 
taking  the  pretty  daughter  of  the  head 
man  of  the  village  as  his  wife. 

My  temperature  took  a  tumble  when 
I  saw  proofs  of  a  hard  and  fast  mar 
riage  ceremony,  signed  and  counter 
signed  by  a  missionary  brother  who 
meant  business. 

You  say  it  is  a  sordid  tale  ?  Mate,  I 
know  a  certain  spot  in  this  Land  of 
Blossoms,  where  only  foreigners  are 
20 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

laid  to  rest,  which  bears  testimony  to  a 
hundred  of  its  kind — strange  and  piti 
ful  destinies  begun  with  high  and  bril 
liant  hopes  in  their  native  land;  and 
when  illusions  have  faded,  the  end  has 
borne  the  stamp  of  tragedy,  because 
suicide  proved  the  open  door  out  of  a 
life  of  failure  and  exile. 

Sada's  father  was  saved  suicide  and 
long  unhappiness  by  a  timely  tidal- 
wave,  which  swept  the  village  nearly 
bare,  and  carried  the  man  and  his  wife 
out  to  sea  and  to  eternity. 

The  child  was  found  by  Susan  West 
who  came  from  a  neighboring  town  to 
care  for  the  sick  and  hungry.  Susan 
was  a  teacher-missionary.  Not  much 
to  look  at,  if  her  picture  told  the  truth, 
but  from  bits  of  her  history  that  I  've 
picked  up  her  life  was  a  brighter  jewel 
than  most  of  us  will  ever  find  in  a 
heavenly  crown.  Instead  of  holding  the 
21 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

unbeliever  by  the  nape  of  the  neck  and 
thrusting  a  not-understood  doctrine 
down  his  unwilling  throat,  she  lived  the 
simple  creed  of  loving  her  neighbor  bet 
ter  than  herself.  And  the  old  pair  of 
goggles  she  wore  made  little  halos 
around  the  least  speck  of  good  she 
found  in  any  transgressor,  no  matter 
how  warped  with  evil. 

When  she  was  n't  helping  some  help 
less  sinner  to  see  the  rainbow  of  prom 
ise  at  the  end  of  the  straight  and  nar 
row  way,  Susan  spent  her  time  and  all 
her  salary,  giving  sick  babies  a  fighting 
chance  for  life.  She  took  the  half- 
drowned  little  Sada  home  with  her,  and 
searched  for  any  kinsman  left  the  child. 
There  was  only  one,  her  mother's 
brother.  He  was  very  poor  and  gladly 
gave  his  consent  that  Miss  West  should 
keep  the  child — as  long  as  it  was  a  girl ! 
Susan  had  taught  the  man  English  once 
22 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

in  the  long  ago  and  this  was  his  chance 
to  repay  her. 

Later  on  when  the  teacher  found  her 
health  failing  and  headed  for  home  in 
America,  Uncle  Mura  was  still  more 
generous  and  raised  no  objections  to 
her  taking  the  baby  with  her. 

Together  they  lived  in  a  small  West 
ern  town.  The  missionary  reared  the 
child  by  rule  of  love  only  and  went  on 
short  rations  to  educate  her.  Sada's 
eager  mind  absorbed  everything  offered 
her  like  a  young  sponge,  and  when  a 
few  months  ago  Susanna  folded  her 
hands  and  joined  her  foremothers, 
there  was  let  loose  on  the  world  this 
exquisite  girl  with  her  solitary  legacy 
of  untried  ideals  and  a  blind  enthusiasm 
for  her  mother's  people. 

Right  here,  Mate,  was  when  I  had  a 
prolonged  attack  of  cold  shivers.  Just 
before  Miss  West  passed  along,  know- 
23 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

ing  that  the  Valley  was  near,  she  wrote 
to  Uncle  in  Japan  and  told  him  that  his 
niece  would  soon  be  alone.  Can't  yon 
imagine  the  picture  she  drew  of  her 
foster  child  who  had  satisfied  every 
craving  of  her  big  mother  heart!  Fas 
cinating  and  charming  and  so  weighted 
with  possibilities,  that  Mura,  who  had 
prospered,  leaped  for  his  chance  and 
sent  Sada  San  money  for  the  passage 
over. 

Not  a  mite  of  anxiety  shadowed  her 
eyes  when  she  told  me  that  Uncle  kept 
a  wonderful  tea-house  in  Kioto.  He 
must  be  very  rich,  she  thought,  because 
he  wrote  her  of  the  beautiful  things 
she  was  to  have.  About  this  time  the 
room  seemed  suffocating.  I  got  up  and 
turned  on  the  electric  fan.  The  only 
thing  required  of  her,  she  continued, 
was  to  use  her  voice  to  entertain  Un 
cle's  friends.  But  she  hoped  to  do 
24 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

much  more.  Through  Miss  West  she 
knew  how  many  of  her  mother's  dear 
people  needed  help.  How  glorious  that 
she  was  young  and  strong  and  could 
give  so  much.  Susan  had  also  talked 
to  her  of  the  flowers,  the  lovely  scenery, 
the  poetry  of  the  people  and  their 
splendid  spirit — making  a  dreamland 
where  even  man  was  perfect.  How  she 
loved  it!  How  proud  she  was  to  feel 
that  in  part  it  was  her  country.  Faith 
fully  would  she  serve  it.  Oh,  Susanna 
West !  I  'd  like  to  shake  you  till  your 
harp  snapped  a  string.  It  's  like  send 
ing  a  baby  to  pick  flowers  on  the  edge 
of  a  bottomless  pit. 

What  could  I  say!  The  missionary- 
teacher  had  told  the  truth.  She  simply 
failed  to  mention  that  in  the  fairy-land 
there  are  cherry-blossom  lanes  down 
which  no  human  can  wander  without 
being  torn  by  the  brier  patches. 
25 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

The  path  usually  starts  from  a  won 
derful  tea-house  where  Uncles  have 
grown  rich.  Miss  West  didn't  mean 
to  shirk  her  duty.  In  most  things  the 
begoggled  lady  was  a  visionary  with  a 
theory  that  if  you  don't  talk  about  a 
thing  it  does  not  exist;  and  like  most 
of  her  kind  she  swept  the  disagreeables 
into  a  dust  heap  and  made  for  the  high 
places  where  all  was  lovely.  And  yet 
she  had  toiled  with  the  girl  through  all 
the  difficulties  of  the  Japanese  lan 
guage;  and,  to  give  her  a  musical  edu 
cation,  had  pinched  to  the  point  of  buy 
ing  one  hat  in  eight  years ! 

Now  it  is  all  done  and  Sada  is 
launched  on  the  high  seas  of  life  with  a 
pleasure-house  for  a  home  and  an  un 
scrupulous  Uncle  with  unlimited  au 
thority  for  a  chaperon.  Shades  of 
Susan!  but  I  am  hoping  guardian  an- 
26 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

gels   are   " really   truly,"   even   if  in 
visible. 

Good  night,  Mate.  This  game  of 
playing  tag  with  jarring  thoughts,  new 
and  old,  has  made  six  extra  wrinkles. 
I  ain  glad  I  came  and  you  and  Jack  will 
have  to  be,  for  to  quote  Charity,  "I  'se 
done  resoluted  on  my  word  of  honah" 
to  keep  my  hands,  if  possible,  on  Sada 
whose  eyes  are  as  blue  as  her  hair  is 
black. 

PACIFIC  OCEAN. 

Since  morning  the  sea  has  been  a 
sheet  of  blue,  streaked  with  the  silver 
of  flying  fish.  That  is  all  the  scenery 
there  is ;  not  a  sail  nor  a  bird  nor  an  in 
sect.  Either  the  unchanging  view  or 
something  in  the  air  has  stimulated 
everybody  into  being  their  nicest.  It 
is  surprising  how  quickly  graciousness 
27 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

possesses  some  people  when  there  is  a 
witching  girl  around.  Vivacious  young 
men  and  benevolent  officers  have  sud 
denly  appeared  out  of  nowhere,  spick 
and  span  in  white  duck  and  their  win- 
ningest  smiles.  Entertainments  dove 
tail  till  there  is  barely  time  for  change 
of  costume  between  acts. 

But  let  me  tell  you,  Mate,  living  up 
to  being  a  mother  is  no  idle  pastime, 
particularly  if  it  means  reviving  the 
lost  art  of  managing  love-smitten 
youths  and  elderly  male  coquettes. 
There  is  a  specimen  of  each  opposite 
Sada  and  me  at  table  who  are  so  gen 
erous  with  their  company  on  deck,  be 
fore  and  after  meals,  I  have  almost  run 
out  of  excuses  and  am  short  on  plans 
to  avoid  the  heavy  obligations  of  their 
eager  attentions. 

The  youth  is  a  To-Be-Ruler  of  many 
people,  a  Maharajah  of  India.  But  the 
28 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

name  is  bigger  than  the  man.  Two 
years  ago  his  father  started  the  boy 
around  the  world  with  a  sack  full  of 
rubles  and  a  head  full  of  ancient  In 
dian  lore.  With  these  assets  he  paused 
at  Oxford  that  he  might  skim  through 
the  classics.  He  had  been  told  this  was 
where  all  the  going-to-be-great  men 
stopped  to  acquire  just  the  proper  tone 
of  superiority  so  necessary  in  ruling  a 
country.  Of  course  he  picked  up  a  bit 
on  electricity,  mechanics,  etc.  This  ac 
complished  to  his  satisfaction  he  ran 
over  to  America  to  view  the  barbari 
ans'  god  of  money  and  take  a  glance  at 
their  houses  which  touched  the  sky. 
But  his  whole  purpose  in  living,  he  told 
me,  was  to  yield  himself  to  certain  med 
itations,  so  that  in  his  final  reincarna 
tion,  which  was  only  a  few  centuries 
off,  he  would  return  to  the  real  thing 
in  Buddha.  In  the  meantime  he  was  to 
29 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

be  a  lion,  a  tiger  and  a  little  white  bird. 
At  present  he  is  plain  human,  with  the 
world-old  malady  gnawing  at  his  heart, 
a  pain  which  threatens  to  send  his 
cogitations  whooping  down  a  thornier 
and  rosier  lane  than  any  Buddha  ever 
knew.  Besides  I  am  thinking  a  few 
worldly  vanities  have  crept  in  and  set 
him  back  an  eon  or  so.  He  wears  pur 
ple  socks,  pink  ties  and  a  dainty  watch 
strapped  around  his  childish  wrist. 

When  I  asked  him  what  impressed 
him  most  in  America,  he  promptly  an 
swered  with  his  eyes  on  Sada,  "Them 
girls.  They  are  rapturous!" 

Farewell  Nirvana!  With  a  camp 
stool  in  one  hand  and  a  rosary  in  the 
other,  he  follows  Sada  San  like  the 
shadow  on  a  sun  dial.  Wherever  she  is 
seated,  there  is  the  stool  and  the  royal 
youth,  his  mournful  eyes  feasting  on 
30 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

the  curves  and  dimples  of  her  face,  her 
lightest  jest  far  sweeter  than  any 
prayer,  the  beads  in  his  hand  forgotten. 

The  other  would-be  swain  calls  him 
self  a  Seeker  of  Truth.  Incidentally 
he  is  hunting  a  wife.  His  general  atti 
tude  is  a  constant  reminder  of  the  un 
certainty  of  life.  His  presence  makes 
you  glad  that  nothing  lasts.  He  says 
his  days  are  heavy  with  the  problems 
of  the  universe,  but  you  can  see  for 
yourself  that  this  very  commercial 
traveler  carries  a  light  side  line  in  an 
assortment  of  flirtations  that  surely 
must  be  like  dancing  little  sunbeams  on 
a  life  of  gloom. 

Goodness  knows  how  much  of  a  nui 
sance  he  would  be  if  it  were  not  for 
a  little  lady  named  Dolly,  who  sits  be 
side  him,  gray  in  color,  dress  and  expe 
rience.  At  no  uncertain  age  she  has 
31 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

found  a  belated  youthfulness  and  is 
starting  on  the  first  pleasure  trip  of  her 
life. 

Coming  across  the  country  to  San 
Francisco,  her  train  was  wrecked.  In 
the  smash-up  a  rude  chair  struck  her 
just  south  of  the  belt  line  and  she  fears 
brain  fever  from  the  blow.  The  alarm 
is  not  general,  for  though  just  freed  by 
kind  death  from  an  unhappy  life  sen 
tence  of  matrimony  she  is  ready  to  try 
another  jailer. 

Whether  he  spied  Dolly  first  and 
hoped  that  the  gleam  from  her  many 
jewels  would  light  up  the  path  in  his 
search  for  Truth  and  a  few  other 
things,  or  whether  the  Seeker  was 
sought,  I  do  not  know.  However  the 
flirtation  which  seems  to  have  no  age 
limit  has  flourished  like  a  bamboo  tree. 
For  once  the  man  was  too  earnest. 
Dolly  gave  heed  and  promptly  attached 
32 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

herself  with  the  persistency  of  a  barna 
cle  to  a  weather-beaten  junk.  By  de 
vices  worthy  a  finished  fisher  of  men, 
she  holds  him  to  his  job  of  suitor,  and 
if  in  a  moment  of  abstraction  his  would- 
be  ardor  for  Sada  grows  too  percep 
tible,  the  little  lady  reels  in  a  yard  or 
so  of  line  to  make  sure  her  prize  is  still 
dangling  on  the  hook. 

To-day  at  tiffin  the  griefless  widow 
unconsciously  scored  at  the  expense  of 
the  Seeker,  to  the  delight  of  the  whole 
table.  For  Sada's  benefit  this  man 
quoted  a  long  passage  from  some  Ger 
man  philosopher.  At  least  it  sounded 
like  that.  It  was  far  above  the  little 
gray  head  he  was  trying  to  ignore  and 
so  weighty  I  feared  for  her  mentality. 
But  I  did  not  know  Dolly.  She  rose 
like  a  doughnut.  Looking  like  a  child 
who  delights  in  the  rhythm  of  meaning 
less  sounds,  she  heard  him  through, 
33 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

then  exclaimed  with  breathless  delight, 
"Oh,  ain't  he  fluid?" 

The  man  fled,  but  not  before  he  had 
asked  Sada  for  two  dances  at  night. 

It  is  like  a  funny  little  curtain-raiser, 
with  jealousy  as  a  gray-haired  Cupid. 
So  far  as  Sada  is  concerned,  it  is  ad 
miration  gone  to  waste.  Even  if  she 
were  not  gaily  indifferent,  she  is  too 
absorbed  in  the  happy  days  she  thinks 
are  awaiting  her.  Poor  child!  Little 
she  knows  of  the  limited  possibilities  of 
a  Japanese  girPs  life;  and  what  the  ef 
fect  of  the  painful  restrictions  will  be 
on  one  of  her  rearing,  I  dare  not  think. 

Once  she  is  under  the  authority  of 
Uncle,  the  Prince,  the  Seeker,  and  all 
mankind  will  be  swept  into  oblivion; 
and,  until  such  time  as  she  can  be  mar 
ried  profitably  and  to  her  master's  lik 
ing,  she  will  know  no  man.  The  cruel- 
est  awakening  she  will  face  is  the  atti- 
34 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

tude  of  the  Orient  toward  tne  innocent 
offspring  in  whose  veins  runs  the  hlood 
of  two  races,  separated  by  differences 
which  never  have  been  and  never  will 
be  overcome. 

In  America  the  girl's  way  would  not 
have  been  so  hard  because  her  novel 
charm  would  have  carried  her  far.  But 
hear  me:  in  Japan,  the  very  wave  in 
her  hair  and  the  color  of  her  eyes  will 
prove  a  barrier  to  the  highest  and  best 
in  the  land.  Even  with  youth  and 
beauty  and  intelligence,  unqualified 
recognition  for  the  Eurasian  is  as  rare 
as  a  square  egg. 

Another  thought  hits  me  in  the  face 
as  if  suddenly  meeting  a  cross  bumble 
bee.  Will  the  teachings  of  the  woman, 
who  lived  with  her  head  in  the  clouds, 
hold  hard  and  fast  when  Uncle  puts  on 
the  screws? 

The  Seeker  says  it  is  the  fellow  wlio 
35 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

thinks  first  that  wins.  He  speaks  feel 
ingly  on  the  subject.  Eight  now  I  am 
going  to  begin  cultivating  first  thought, 
and  try  to  be  near  if  danger,  whose 
name  is  Uncle,  threatens  the  girl  who 
has  walked  into  my  affections  and  made 
herself  at  home. 

Later. 

All  the  very  good  people  are  in  bed. 
The  very  worldly  minded  and  the  young 
are  on  deck  reluctantly  finishing  the 
last  dance  under  a  canopy  of  make-be 
lieve  cherry  blossoms  and  wistaria.  I 
am  on  the  deck  between,  closing  this 
letter  to  you  which  I  will  mail  in  Yoko 
hama  in  a  few  hours. 

In  a  way  I  shall  be  glad  to  see  a  quiet 
room  in  a  hotel  and  hie  me  back  to  sim 
ple  living,  free  from  the  responsibili 
ties  of  a  temporary  parent.  I  am  not 
promising  myself  any  gay  thrills  in  the 
36 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

meantime.  What  's  the  use,  with  Jack 
on  the  borderland  of  a  sulphurous 
country  and  you  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden?  His  letters  and  yours  will  be 
my  greatest  excitement.  So  write  and 
keep  on  writing  and  never  fear  that  I 
will  not  do  the  same.  You  are  the 
safety-valve  for  my  speaking  emotions, 
Mate ;  so  let  that  help  you  bear  it. 

Please  mark  with  red  ink  one  small 
detail  of  Sada's  story.  When  I  was 
fastening  her  simple  white  gown  for  the 
dance  her  chatter  was  like  that  of  a 
sunny-hearted  child.  Indeed,  she  liked 
to  dance.  Susan  did  not  think  it  harm 
ful.  She  said  if  your  heart  was  right 
your  feet  would  follow.  When  Miss 
West  could  spare  her  she  always  went 
to  parties  with  Billy,  and  oh,  how  he 
could  dance  if  he  was  so  big  and  had 
red  hair. 

So!  there  was  a  Billy?  I  looked  in 
37 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

her  face  for  signs.  The  way  was  clear 
but  there  was  a  soft  little  quiver  in  her 
voice  that  caused  me  carefully  to  label 
the  unknown  William,  and  lay  him  on 
a  shelf  for  future  reference.  What 
ever  the  coming  days  hold  for  her, 
mine  has  been  the  privilege  of  giving 
the  girl  three  weeks  of  unclouded  hap 
piness. 

Outside  I  hear  the  little  Prince  pa 
cing  up  and  down,  yielding  up  his  soul 
to  holy  meditations.  I  'd  be  willing  to 
wager  my  best  piece  of  jade  his  con 
templations  are  something  like  a  cycle 
from  Nirvana,  and  closer  far  to  a  pair 
of  heavily  fringed  eyes.  Poor  little 
imitation  Buddha!  He  is  grasping  at 
the  moon's  reflection  on  the  water. 
Somewhere  near  I  hear  Dolly's  soft  coo 
and  deep-voiced  replies.  But  unfin 
ished  packing,  a  bath  and  coffee  are 
awaiting  me. 

38 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

Dawn  is  coming,  and  already  through 
the  port  hole  I  see  a  dot  of  earth  curled 
against  the  horizon.  Above  floats 
Fuji,  the  base  wrapped  in  mists,  the 
peak  eternally  white,  a  giant  snowdrop 
swinging  in  a  dome  of  perfect  blue. 
The  vision  is  a  call  to  prayer,  a  wooing 
of  the  soul  to  the  heights  of  undimmed 
splendor. 

After  all,  Mate,  I  may  give  you  and 
Jack  a  glad  surprise  and  justify  Sada 
handing  me  that  letter  addressed  to  a 
Christian  Sister. 

YOKOHAMA,  July,  1911. 
Now  that  I  am  here,  I  am  trying  to 
decide   what   to   do   with   myself.    At 
home  each  day  was  so  full  of  happy 
things  and  the  happiest  of  all  was  lis 
tening  for  Jack's  merry  whistle  as  he 
opened  the  street  door  every  night.     At 
home  there  are  always  demands,  big 
39 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

and  little,  popping  in  on  me  which  I 
sometimes  resent  and  yet  being  free 
from  makes  me  feel  as  dismal  as  a  long 
vacant  house  with  the  For  Eent  sign 
up,  looks.  In  this  Lotus  land  there  is 
no  must  of  any  kind  for  the  alien,  and 
the  only  whistles  I  hear  belong  to  the 
fierce  little  tugs  that  buzz  around  in 
the  harbor,  in  and  out  among  the  white 
sails  of  the  fishing  fleet  like  big  black 
beetles  in  a  field  of  lilies.  But  yon 
must  not  think  life  dull  for  me.  Fate 
and  I  have  cried  a  truce,  and  she  is 
showing  me  a  few  hands  she  is  dealing 
other  people.  But  first  listen  to  the 
tale  I  have  to  tell  of  the  bruise  she  gave 
my  pride  this  morning,  that  will  show 
black  for  many  a  day. 

I  joined  a  crowd  on  the  water's  edge 
in  front  of  the  hotel  to  watch  a  funeral 
procession  in  boats.     Eecently  a  hun 
dred  and  eighty  fishermen  were  sent  to 
40 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

the  bottom  by  a  big  typhoon,  and  the 
wives  and  the  sweethearts  were  being 
towed  out  to  sea  to  pay  a  last  tribute 
to  them,  by  strewing  the  fatal  spot  with 
flowers  and  paper  prayers.  White- 
robed  priests  stood  up  in  the  front  of 
the  boats  and  chanted  some  mournful 
ritual,  keeping  time  to  the  dull  thump 
ing  of  a  drum.  The  air  was  heavy  with 
incense.  A  dreamy  melancholy  filled 
the  air  and  I  thought  how  hallowed  and 
beautiful  a  thing  is  memory.  From 
out  that  silent  watching  crowd  came  a 
voice  that  sent  my  thoughts  flying  to 
starry  nights  of  long  ago  and  my  first 
trip  across  the  Pacific;  soft  south 
winds;  vows  of  eternal  devotion  that 
kept  time  with  the  distant  throbbing  of 
a  ship's  engine.  I  turned.  I  was  fac 
ing  little  Germany  and  five  littler  Ger- 
manys  strung  out  behind.  You  surely 
remember  him?  and  how  when  I 
41 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

could  n  't  see  things  his  way  he  swore  to 
a  wrecked  heart  and  a  never-to-be-for 
gotten  constancy.  Mate!  There  was 
no  more  of  a  flicker  of  memory  in  the 
stare  of  his  round  blue  eyes  than  there 
would  have  been  in  a  newly  baked 
pretzel.  I  stood  still,  waiting  for  some 
glimmer  of  recognition.  Instead,  he 
turned  to  the  pincushion  on  his  arm, 
whom  I  took  to  be  Ma  G.,  and  I  heard 
him  say  ' i  Herzallorliebsten. ' '  I  went 
straight  to  the  hotel  and  had  it  trans 
lated.  Thought  it  had  a  familiar 
sound.  "Wouldn't  it  be  interesting  to 
know  how  many  "only  ones"  any 
man's  life  history  records?  To  think 
of  my  imagining  him  eating  his  heart 
out  with  hopeless  longing  in  some  far 
away  Tibetan  Monastery.  And  here  he 
was,  pudgy  and  content,  with  his  fat 
little  brood  waddling  along  behind  him. 
If  our  vision  could  penetrate  the  fu- 
42 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

ture,  verily  Eomance  would  have  to 
close  up  shop.  Oh,  no !  I  did  n't  want 
him  to  pine  entirely  away,  but  he 
needn't  have  been  in  such  an  ever 
lasting  hurry  to  get  fat  and  prosperous 
over  it.  Would  n  't  Jack  howl  I 

I  took  good  care  to  see  that  he  was 
not  stopping  at  this  hotel.  Then  I  went 
back  to  my  own  thoughts  of  the  happy 
years  that  had  been  mine  since  Little 
Germany  bade  me  a  tearful  good-by. 

And,  too,  I  wanted  to  think  out  some 
plan  whereby  I  can  keep  in  touch  with 
Sada  and  be  friendly  with  her  relative. 

Before  I  left  the  steamer,  I  had  a 
surprise  in  the  way  of  Uncles.  Next 
time  I  will  pause  before  I  prophesy. 
But  if  Uncle  was  a  blow  to  my  precon 
ceived  ideas,  I  will  venture  Sada  star 
tled  a  few  of  his  traditions  as  to  nieces. 
Quarantine  inspection  was  short,  and 
when  at  last  we  cast  anchor,  the  harbor 
43 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

was  as  blue  as  if  a  patch  of  the  summer 
sky  had  dropped  into  it.  The  thatched 
roofs  shone  russet  brown  against  the 
dark  foliage  of  the  hills.  The  temple 
roofs  curved  gracefully  above  the  pink 
mist  of  the  crepe  myrtle. 

Sada  was  standing  by  me  on  the  up 
per  deck,  fascinated  by  the  picture. 
As  she  realized  the  long  dreamed-of 
fairy-land  was  unfolding  before  her, 
tears  of  joy  filled  her  eyes  and  tears  of 
another  kind  filled  mine. 

Sampans,  launches  and  lighters  clus 
tered  around  the  steamer  as  birds  of 
prey  gather  to  a  feast :  captains  in  gilt 
braid;  coolies  in  blue  and  white,  with 
their  calling-cards  stamped  in  large  let 
ters  on  their  backs,  and  the  story  of 
their  trade  written  around  the  tail  of 
their  coats  in  fantastic  Japanese  char 
acters.  Gentlemen  in  divided  skirts 
and  ladies  in  kimono  and  clogs  swarmed 
44 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

up  the  gangway.  In  the  smiling,  push 
ing  crowd  I  looked  for  the  low-browed 
relative  I  expected  to  see.  Imagine  the 
shock,  Mate,  when  a  man  with  manners 
as  beautiful  as  his  silk  kimono  pre 
sented  his  card  and  announced  that  he 
was  Uncle  Mura.  I  had  been  pointed 
out  as  Sada's  friend.  A  week  after 
wards  I  could  have  thought  of  some 
thing  brilliant  to  say.  Taken  un 
awares,  I  stammered  out  a  hope  that 
his  honorable  teeth  were  well  and  his 
health  poor.  You  see  I  am  all  right  in 
Japanese  if  I  do  the  talking.  For  I 
know  what  I  want  to  say  and  what  they 
ought  to  say.  But  when  they  come  at 
me  with  a  flank  movement,  as  it  were, 
I  am  lost.  Uncle  passed  over  my  blun 
der  without  a  smile  and  went  on  to  say 
many  remarkable  things,  if  sound 
means  anything.  However,  trust  even 
a  deaf  woman  to  prick  up  her  ears  when 
45 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

a  compliment  is  headed  her  way, 
whether  it  is  in  Sanskrit  or  Polynesian. 
In  acknowledgment  I  stuck  to  my  flag, 
and  the  man's  command  of  quaint  but 
correct  English  convinced  me  that  I 
would  have  to  specialize  in  something 
more  than  first  thought  if  I  was  to  cope 
with  this  tea-house  proprietor  whose 
armor  is  the  subtle  manners  of  the 
courtier. 

Blessed  Sada!  Only  the  cocksure- 
ness  of  youth  made  her  blind  to  the 
check  her  enthusiasm  was  meant  to  re 
ceive  in  the  first  encounter  of  the  new 
life.  She  had  always  met  people  on 
equal  terms,  most  men  falling  easy 
victims.  She  was  blissfully  ignorant 
that  Mura,  by  directing  his  conversa 
tion  to  me,  meant  to  convey  to  her 
that  well-bred  girls  in  this  enchanted 
land  lowered  their  eyes  and  folded 
their  hands  when  they  talked  in  the 
46 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

presence  of  a  MAN,  if  they  dared  to 
talk  at  all. 

Not  so  this  half-child  of  the  West. 
She  fairly  palpitated  with  joy  and  bab 
bled  away  with  the  freedom  of  a  sunny 
brook  in  the  shadow  of  a  grim  forest. 
From  the  man's  standpoint,  he  was  not 
unkind ;  unrestraint  was  to  him  an  in 
comprehensible  factor  in  a  young  girl's 
make-up;  and  whatever  was  to  follow, 
the  first  characters  he  meant  her  to 
learn  must  spell  reverence  and  repres 
sion. 

They  hurried  ashore  to  catch  a  train 
to  Kioto.  I  must  look  harmless,  for  I 
was  invited  to  call.  I  shall  accept,  for 
I  have  a  feeling  in  spite  of  manners  and 
silken  robes  that  the  day  is  not  distant 
when  the  distress  signals  will  be  flying. 

I  waved  good-by  to  the  girl  as  the 
little  launch  made  its  way  to  land.  She 
made  a  trumpet  of  her  hands  and  called 
47 


The   Lady  and  Sada  San 

a  merry  "sayonara."  The  master  of 
her  future  folded  his  arms  and  looked 
out  to  sea. 

The  next  day  I  had  a  lonely  lunch  at 
the  hotel.  When  I  saw  two  lovery 
young  things  at  the  table  where  Jack 
and  I  had  our  wedding  breakfast,  so 
long  ago,  I  made  for  the  other  end  of 
the  room  and  persistently  turned  my 
back.  But  I  saw  out  of  the  corner  of 
my  eye  they  were  far  away  above  food, 
and,  Mate,  believe  me,  they  did  n't  even 
know  it  was  hot,  though  a  rain  barrel 
couldn't  have  measured  the  humidity. 

Of  course  Jack  and  I  were  much  more 
sensible,  but  that  whole  blessed  time  is 
wrapped  in  rosy  mists  with  streaks  of 
moonlight  to  the  tune  of  heavenly  mu 
sic,  so  it  's  futile  to  try  to  recall  just 
what  did  happen.  I  ought  to  have  gone 
to  another  hotel,  but  the  chain  of  mem 
ory  was  too  strong  for  me. 
48 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

I  was  hesitating  between  the  luxury 
of  a  sentimental  spell  and  a  fit  of  lone 
liness,  when  a  happy  interruption  came 
in  a  message  from  Countess  Otani, 
naming  the  next  day  at  two  for 
luncheon  with  her  at  the  Arsenal  Gar 
dens  at  Tokio.  How  I  wished  for  you, 
Mate !  It  was  a  fairy-story  come  true, 
dragons  and  all.  The  Arsenal  Garden 
means  just  what  it  says.  Only  when 
the  dove  of  peace  is  on  duty  are  its 
gates  opened,  and  then  to  but  a  few, 
high  in  command.  For  across  the 
white-blossomed  hedge  that  encloses 
the  grounds,  armies  of  men  toil  cease 
lessly  molding  black  bullets  for  pale 
people  and  they  work  so  silently  that 
the  birds  keep  house  in  the  long  fringed 
willows  and  the  goldfish  splash  in  the 
sunned  spots  of  the  tiny  lake. 

After  passing  the  dragons  in  the 
shape  of  sentries  and  soldiers,  to  each 
49 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

of  whom  I  gave  a  brief  life-history,  I 
wisely  followed  my  nose  and  a  guard 
down  the  devious  path. 

The  Countess  received  her  guests  in 
a  banquet-hall  all  ebony  and  gold,  and 
was  not  seated  permanently  on  a 
throne  with  a  diamond  crown  screwed 
into  her  head  as  we  used  so  fondly  to 
imagine. 

The  simplicity  of  her  hospitality  was 
charming.  She  and  most  of  her  ladies- 
in-waiting  had  been  educated  abroad. 
But  despite  the  lure  of  the  Western 
freedom,  they  had  returned  to  their 
country  with  their  heads  level  and 
their  traditions  intact.  But  you  guess 
wrong,  honey,  if  you  imagine  custom 
and  formality  of  official  life  have  so 
overcome  these  high-born  ladies  as  to 
make  them  lay  figures  who  dare  not 
raise  their  eyes  except  by  rule.  There 
were  three  American  guests,  and  only 
50 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

by  being  as  nimble  as  grasshoppers  did 
we  hold  our  own  in  the  table  talk  which 
was  as  exhilarating  as  a  game  of  snow 
ball  on  a  frosty  day. 

We  scampered  all  around  war  and 
settled  a  few  important  political  ques 
tions.  Poetry,  books  and  the  new  Cab 
inet  vied  with  the  merriment  over  com 
parisons  in  styles  of  dress.  One  de 
lightful  woman  told  how  gloves  and 
shoes  had  choked  her  when  she  first 
wore  them  in  America.  Another  gave 
her  experience  in  getting  fatally  twisted 
in  her  court  train  when  she  was  making 
her  bow  before  the  German  Empress. 

A  soft-voiced  matron  made  us  laugh 
over  her  story  of  how,  when  she  was 
a  young  girl  at  a  mission  school,  she 
unintentionally  joined  in  a  Christian 
prayer,  and  nearly  took  the  skin  off 
her  tongue  afterwards  scrubbing  it 
with  strong  soap  and  water  to  wash 
51 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

away  the  stain.  There  wasn't  even  a 
smile  as  she  quietly  spoke  of  the  many 
times  later  when  with  that  same  prayer 
she  had  tried  to  make  less  hard  the 
after-horrors  of  war. 

The  possibilities  of  Japanese  women 
are  amazing  even  to  one  who  thinks  he 
knows  them.  They  look  as  if  made  for 
decoration  only,  and  with  a  flirt  of  their 
sleeves  they  bring  ont  a  surprise  that 
turns  your  ideas  a  double  somersault. 
Here  they  were,  laughing  and  chatting 
like  a  bunch  of  fresh  schoolgirls  for 
whom  life  was  one  long  holiday.  Yet 
ten  out  of  the  number  had  recently 
packed  away  their  gorgeous  clothes, 
and  laid  on  a  high  shelf  all  royal  ranks 
and  rights,  for  a  nurse's  dress  and  kit. 
Apparently  delicate  and  shy  they  can 
be,  if  emergency  demands,  as  grim  as 
war  or  as  tender  as  heaven. 

It  was  a  blithesome  day  and  if  it 
52 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

had  n't  been  for  that  "all  gone"  sort  of 
a  feeling,  that  possesses  me  when  even 
ing  draws  near  and  Jack  is  far  away, 
content  might  have  marked  me  as  her 
own.  As  it  was  I  put  off  playing  a 
single  at  dinner  as  long  as  possible 
by  calling  on  a  month-old  bride  whom 
I  had  known  as  a  girl.  With  glee  I 
accepted  the  offer  of  an  automobile  to 
take  me  for  the  visit,  and  repented  later. 
Two  small  chauffeurs  and  a  diminutive 
footman  raced  me  through  the  narrow, 
crowded  streets,  scattering  the  popu 
lace  to  any  shelter  it  could  find.  The 
only  reason  we  didn't  take  the  fronts 
out  of  the  shops  is  that  Japanese  shops 
are  frontless.  I  looked  back  to  see 
the  countless  victims  of  our  speed.  I 
saw  only  a  crowd  coming  from  cover, 
smiling  with  curiosity  and  interest. 
We  hit  the  top  of  the  hill  with  a  flour 
ish,  and  when  I  asked  what  was  the 
53 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

hurry  my  attendants  looked  hurt  and 
reproachfully  asked  if  that  was  n't  the 
way  Americans  liked  to  ride. 

Mate,  this  is  a  land  of  contrasts  and 
contradictions.  At  the  garden  all  had 
been  life  and  color.  At  this  home, 
where  the  wrinkled  old  servitor  opened 
the  heavily  carved  gates  for  me,  it  was 
as  if  I  had  stepped  into  a  bit  of  ancient 
Japan,  jealously  guarded  from  any  en 
croachment  of  new  conditions  or 
change  of  custom. 

Like  a  curious  package,  contents  un 
known,  I  was  passed  from  one  auto 
matic  servant  to  another  till  I  finally 
reached  the  Torisliimari  or  mistress  of 
ceremonies.  By  clock-work  she  offered 
me  a  seat  on  the  floor,  a  fan  and  con 
gratulations.  This  last  simply  because 
I  was  me.  The  house  was  ancient  and 
beautiful.  The  room  in  which  I  sat  had 
nothing  in  it  but  matting  as  fine  as  silk, 
54 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

a  rare  old  vase  with  two  flowers  and  a 
leaf  in  formal  arrangement,  and  an  at 
mosphere  of  aloofness  that  lulled  mind 
and  body  to  restful  revery.  After  my 
capacity  for  tea  and  sugared  dough  was 
tested,  the  little  serving  maid  fanning: 
me,  bowing  every  time  I  blinked,  the 
paper  doors  near  by  divided  noiselessly 
and,  framed  by  the  dim  light,  sat  the 
young  bride,  quaint  and  oriental  as  if 
she  had  stepped  out  of  some  century- 
old  kakemono.  In  contrast  to  my  re 
cent  hostesses  it  was  like  coming  from 
a  garden  of  brilliant  flowers  into  the 
soft,  quiet  shadows  of  a  bamboo  grove. 
No  modern  touch  about  this  lady.  She 
had  been  reduced  by  rule  from  a  romp 
ing  girl  to  a  selfless  creature  fit  for  a 
Japanese  gentleman's  wife  and  no  ques 
tions  asked.  Her  hair,  her  dress,  and 
even  her  speech  were  strictly  by  the 
laws  laid  down  in  a  book  for  the  thirty- 
55 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

iirst  day  of  the  first  month  after  mar 
riage.  But  I  would  like  to  see  the  con 
vention  with  a  crust  thick  enough  to  en 
tirely  obliterate  one  woman's  interest 
in  another  whose  clothes  and  life  belong 
to  a  distant  land.  When  I  told  her  I 
liad  come  to  Japan  against  Jack's 
wishes  and  was  going  to  follow  him  to 
China  if  I  could,  she  paled  at  my  rash 
ness.  How  could  a  woman  dare  dis 
obey?  Would  not  my  husband  send  me 
home,  take  my  name  off  the  house  regis 
ter  and  put  somebody  in  my  place! 

Well  now,  wouldn't  you  like  to  see 
the  scientist  play  any  such  tricks  with 
me — that  blessed  old  Jack  who  smiles 
at  my  follies,  asks  my  advice,  and  does 
as  he  pleases,  and  for  whom  there  has 
never  been  but  the  one  woman  in  the 
world!  I  struggled  to  make  plain  to 
her  the  attitude  of  American  men  and 
women  and  the  semi-independence  of 
56 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

the  latter.  As  well  explain  theology 
to  a  child.  To  her  mind  the  undevi- 
ating  path  of  absolute  obedience  was 
the  only  possible  way.  Anything  out 
side  of  a  complete  renunciation  of  self- 
interest  and  thought  meant  ruin  and 
was  not  even  to  be  whispered  about.  I 
gave  it  up  and  came  back  to  her  sphere 
of  poetry  and  mothers-in-law. 

When  I  said  good-by  there  was  a 
gentle  pity  in  her  eyes,  for  she  was  cer 
tain  her  long-time  friend  was  headed 
for  the  highroad  of  destruction.  But 
instead  I  turned  into  the  dim  solitude 
of  Shiba  Park.  I  had  something  to< 
think  about.  To-day's  experiences  had 
painted  anew  in  flaming  colors  the  dif 
ference  in  husbands.  How  prone  a 
woman  is,  who  is  free  and  dearly  be 
loved,  to  fall  into  the  habit  of  taking 
things  for  granted,  forgetting  how  one 
drop  of  the  full  measure  of  happiness, 
57 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

that  a  good  husband  gives  her,  would 
turn  to  rosy  tints  the  gray  lives  of  hun 
dreds  of  her  kind  who  are  wives  in 
name  only.  Her  appreciation  may  be 
abundant  but  it  is  the  silent  kind.  Her 
bugaboo  is  fear  of  sentiment  and  when 
it  is  too  late,  she  remembers  with  a 
heart-break. 

I  can  think  of  a  thousand  things  right 
now  I  want  to  say  to  Jack  and  while 
storing  them  away  for  some  future 
happy  hour,  I  walked  further  into  the 
deep  shadows  of  twilight. 

Instantly  the  spell  of  the  East  was 
over  me.  Eeal  life  was  not.  In  the  soft 
green  silences  of  mystery  and  fancy,  I 
found  a  seat  by  an  ancient  moss-cov 
ered  tomb.  Dreamily  I  watched  a 
great  red  dragon-fly  frivol  with  the 
fairy  blue  wreaths  of  incense-smoke 
that  hovered  above  the  leaf  shadows 
trembling  on  the  sand.  The  deep  mel- 
58 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

ody  of  a  bell,  sifted  through  a  cloud  of 
blossom,  caught  up  my  willing  soul  and 
floated  out  to  sea  and  Jack  far  from 
this  lovely  land,  where  stalks  unre 
strained  the  ugly  skeleton  of  easy  di 
vorce  for  men.  The  subject  always 
irritates  me  like  prickly  heat. 

NIKKO,  July,  1911. 
Summer  in  Japan  is  no  joke,  espe 
cially  if  you  are  waiting  for  letters.  I 
know  perfectly  well  I  can't  hear  from 
you  and  Jack  for  an  age,  and  yet  I 
watch  for  the  postman  three  times  a 
day,  as  a  hungry  man  waits  for  the  din 
ner-bell. 

The  days  in  Yokohama  were  too 
much  like  a  continuous  Turkish  bath, 
and  I  fled  to  Nikko,  the  ever  moist  and 
mossy.  Two  things  you  can  always  ex 
pect  in  this  village  of  "roaring,  wind 
swept  mountains/' — rain  and  courtesy. 

59 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

One  is  as  inevitable  as  the  other,  and 
both  are  served  in  quantities. 

I  am  staying  in  a  semi-foreign  hotel 
which  is  tucked  away  in  a  pocket  in  the 
side  of  a  mountain  as  comfy  as  a  fat  old 
lady  in  a  big  rocker  who  glories  in  dis 
pensing  hospitality  with  both  hands. 
Just  let  me  put  my  head  out  of  my  room 
door  and  the  hall  fairly  blossoms  with 
little  maids  eager  to  serve.  A  step 
toward  the  entrance  brings  to  life  a 
small  army  of  attendants  bending  as 
they  come  like  animated  jack-knives  on 
a  live  wire.  One  struggles  with  the 
mystery  of  my  overshoes,  while  the 
Master  stands  by  and  begs  me  to  take 
care  of  my  honorable  spirit.  As  it  is 
the  only  spirit  I  possess  I  heed  his  ad 
vice  and  bring  it  back  to  the  hotel  to 
find  the  entire  force  standing  at  atten 
tion,  ready  to  receive  me.  I  pass  on 
to  my  room  with  a  procession  of  bear- 
60 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

ers  and  bearesses  strung  out  behind 
me  like  the  tail  of  a  kite,  anything 
from  a  tea-tray  to  the  sugar  tongs  be- 
in.ir  sufficient  excuse  for  joining  the  pa 
rade. 

When  dressing  for  dinner,  if  I  press 
the  button,  no  less  than  six  little  pic 
ture  maids  flutter  to  my  door,  each  beg 
ging  for  the  honor  of  fastening  me  up- 
the  back.  How  delighted  Jack  would 
be  to  assign  them  this  particular 
honor  for  life.  Such  whispers  over 
the  wonders  of  a  foreign-made  dress 
as  they  struggle  with  the  curious  fas 
tenings!  (They  should  hear  my  lord's 
fierce  language!)  Each  one  takes  a 
turn  till  some  sort  of  connection  is 
made  between  hook  and  eye.  All  is  so 
earnestly  done  I  dare  not  laugh  or  wig 
gle  with  impatience.  I  may  sail  into 
dinner  with  the  upper  hook  in  the  lower 
eye  and  the  middle  all  askew,  but  the 
61 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

service  is  so  graciously  given,  I  would 
rather  have  my  dress  upside  down  than 
to  grumble.  Certainly  I  pay  for  it.  I 
tip  everything  from  the  proprietor  to 
the  water-pitcher.  But  the  sum  is  so 
disproportionate  to  the  pleasure  and 
the  comfort  returned  that  I  smile  to 
think  of  the  triple  price  I  have  paid 
elsewhere  and  the  high-nosed  conde 
scension  I  got  in  return  for  my  money. 
Japanese  courtesy  may  be  on  the  sur 
face,  but  the  polish  does  not  easily  wear 
off  and  it  soothes  the  nerves  just  as  the 
rain  cools  the  air.  It  goes  without  say 
ing  that  I  did  not  arrive  in  Nikko  with 
out  a  variety  of  experiences  along  the 
way. 

Two  hours  out  from  Yokohama,  the 
train  boy  came  into  the  coach,  and  with 
a  smile  as  cheerful  as  if  he  were  say 
ing,  " Happy  New  Year,"  announced 
that  there  was  a  washout  in  front  of  us 
62 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

and  a  landslide  at  the  back  of  us. 
Would  everybody  please  rest  their  hon 
orable  bones  in  the  village  while  a 
bridge  was  built  and  a  river  filled  in. 
The  passengers  trailed  into  a  settle 
ment  of  straw  roofs,  bamboo  poles  and 
acres  of  white  and  yellow  lilies.  I  went 
to  a  quaint  little  inn — that  was  mostly 
out! — built  over  a  fussy  brook;  and  a 
pine  tree  grew  right  out  of  the  side  of 
the  house.  My  room  was  furnished 
with  four  mats  and  a  poem  hung  on  the 
wall.  When  the  policeman  came  in  to 
apologize  for  the  rudeness  of  the  storm 
in  delaying  me,  the  boy  who  brought  my 
bags  had  to  step  outside  so  that  the  offi 
cial  would  have  room  to  bow  properly. 
I  ate  my  supper  of  fish-omelet  and  tur 
nip  pickle  served  in  red  lacquer  bowls, 
and  drank  tea  out  of  cups  as  big  as 
thimbles.  Jack  says  Japanese  teacups 
ought  to  be  forbidden;  in  a  moment  of 
G3 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

forgetfulness  they  could  so  easily  slip 
down  with  the  tea. 

It  had  been  many  a  year  since  I  was 
so  separated  from  my  kind  and  each 
hour  of  isolation  makes  clearer  a  thing 
I  Ve  never  doubted,  but  sometimes  for 
get,  that  the  happiest  woman  is  she 
whose  every  moment  is  taken  up  in  be 
ing  necessary  to  somebody ;  and  to  such, 
unoccupied  minutes  are  like  so  many 
drops  of  lead.  That,  with  a  telegram  I 
read  telling  of  the  increasing  dangers 
of  the  plague  in  Manchuria,  threatened 
to  send  me  headlong  into  a  spell  of  anx 
iety  and  the  old  terrible  loneliness. 

Happily  the  proprietor  and  his  wife 
headed  it  off  by  asking  me  if  I  would  be 
their  guest  for  this  evening  to  see  the 
Bon  Matsuri,  the  beautiful  Festival  of 
the  Dead.  On  the  thirteenth  day  of  the 
seventh  month,  all  the  departed  spirits 
take  a  holiday  from  Nirvana  or  any 
64 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

other  seaport  they  happen  to  be  in  and 
come  on  a  visit  to  their  former  homes 
to  see  how  it  fares  with  the  living. 
Poor  homesick  spirits!  Not  even 
Heaven  can  compensate  for  the  separa 
tion  from  beloved  country  and  friends. 
As  we  passed  along,  the  streets  were 
alight  with  burning  rushes  placed  at 
many  doors  to  guide  the  spiritual  ex 
cursionists.  Inside,  the  people  were 
praying,  shrines  were  decorated  and 
children  in  holiday  dress  merrily 
romped.  Why,  Mate,  it  was  worth  be 
ing  a  ghost  just  to  come  back  and  see 
how  happy  everybody  was.  For  on 
this  night  of  nights,  cares  and  sorrows 
are  doubly  locked  in  a  secret  place 
and  the  key  put  carefully  away.  You 
couldn't  find  a  coolie  so  heartless  as  to 
show  a  shadow  of  trouble  to  his  ghostly 
relatives  when  they  return  for  so  brief 
a  time  to  hold  happy  communion  with 
65 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

the  living.  He  may  be  hungry,  he  may 
be  sick,  but  there  is  a  brave  smile  of 
welcome  on  his  lips  for  the  spirits. 

The  crazy  old  temple  at  the  foot  of 
the  mountain,  glorified  by  a  thousand 
lights  and  fluttering  flags,  reaped  a 
harvest  of  rins  and  sens  paid  to  the 
priests  for  paper  prayers  and  bamboo 
flower-holders  with  which  to  decorate 
the  graves.  The  cemetery  was  on  the 
side  of  the  hill,  and  every  step  of  the 
way  somebody  stopped  at  a  stone 
marker  to  fasten  a  lantern  to  a  small 
fishing-pole  and  pin  a  prayer  near  by. 
This  was  to  guide  the  spirit  to  his  own 
particular  spot. 

A  breeze  as  soft  as  a  happy  sigh  came 
through  the  pines  and  gently  rocked 
the  lanterns.  The  dim  figures  of  the 
worshipers  moved  swiftly  about,  as  de 
lighted  as  children  in  the  shadow-pic 
tures  made  by  the  twinkling  lights, 
66 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

eagerly  seeking  out  remote  spots  that 
no  grave  might  be  without  its  welcom 
ing  gleam.  A  long  line  of  white-robed 
dancing  girls  came  swaying  by  with 
clapping  hands  to  soft-voiced  chant 
ing. 

I,  too,  though  an  alien,  was  moved 
with  the  good-will  and  kindness  that 
sung  through  the  very  air  and  fear 
lessly  I  would  have  decorated  any 
festive  ghost  that  happened  along.  I 
looked  to  see  where  I  might  lay  the 
offering  I  held  in  my  hand.  My  host 
ess  plucked  my  sleeve  and  pointed  to 
a  tiny  tombstone  under  a  camellia  tree. 
I  went  closer  and  read  the  English  in 
scription,  "Dorothy  Dale.  Aged  2 
years. "  There  was  a  tradition  that 
once  in  the  long  ago  a  missionary  and 
his  wife  lived  in  the  village.  Through 
an  awful  epidemic  of  cholera  they  stuck 
to  their  posts,  nursed  and  cared  for  the 
67 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

people.  Their  only  child  was  the  price 
they  paid  for  their  constancy.  To  each 
generation  the  story  had  been  told,  and 
through  all  the  years  faithful  watch 
had  been  kept  over  the  littlo  enclosure. 
Now  it  was  all  a -glimmer  with  lanterns 
shaped  like  birds  and  butterflies.  I 
added  my  small  offering  and  turned 
hotelwards  reluctantly. 

My  ancient  host  and  hostess  trotted 
along  near  by,  eager  to  share  all  their 
pathetic  little  gaieties  with  me.  Their 
lives  together  had  about  as  much  real 
comradeship  as  a  small  brown  hen  and 
a  big  gray  owl,  and  they  had  been  mar 
ried  sixty  years !  They  had  toiled  and 
grown  old  together,  but  that  did  not 
mean  that  wifey  was  to  walk  anywhere 
but  three  feet  to  the  rear,  nor  to  speak 
except  when  her  lord  and  ruler  stopped 
talking  to  take  a  whiff  of  his  pipe. 
I  tried  to  walk  behind  with  the  old  lady 
68 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

but  she  threatened  to  stand  in  one  spot 
for  the  rest  of  the  night.  Then  I 
vainly  coaxed  her  to  walk  with  me  at 
her  husband's  side.  But  her  face  was 
so  full  of  genuine  horror  at  such  dis 
respect  that  I  desisted.  Think,  Mate, 
of  trying  to  puzzle  out  the  make-up  of 
a  nation  which  for  the  sake  of  a  long- 
ago  kindness  will  for  years  keep  a 
strange  baby's  grave  green  and  yet 
whose  laws  will  divorce  a  woman  for 
disobedience  to  her  husband's  mother 
and  where  the  ancient  custom  of 
4  *  women  to  heel"  still  holds  good. 

And  this  is  the  land  where  the  Seeker 
came  for  the  truth ! 

Sada  thinks  it  paradise  and  I,  as  be 
fore,  am  sending  to  Jack 

A  heart  of  love  for  thee 
Blown  by  the  summer  breezes 
Ten  thousand  miles  of  sea. 


69 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

July,  1911. 
Mate: 

There  ought  to  be  some  kind  of  cap 
ital  punishment  for  the  woman  who 
has  nothing  to  do  but  kill  time.  It  's 
an  occupation  that  puts  crimps  in  the 
soul  and  offers  the  supreme  moment  in 
which  the  devil  may  work  his  rabbit 
foot.  No,  I  cannot  settle  down  or  hus 
tle  up  to  anything  until  I  hear  from 
Jack  or  you.  Very  soon  I  will  be  re 
duced  to  doing  the  one  desperate  thing 
lurking  in  this  corner  of  the  woods, 
flirting  with  the  solitary  male  guest, 
who  has  a  strong  halt  in  his  voice 
and  whose  knees  are  not  on  speaking 
terms. 

Of  course  it  is  raining.  If  the  sun 
gets  gay  and  tries  the  bluff  of  be 
ing  friendly,  a  heavy  giant  of  a  cloud 
rises  promptly  up  from  behind  a  moun 
tain  and  puts  him  out  of  business. 
Still,  why  moan  over  the  dampness? 
It  makes  the  hills  look  like  great  green 
70 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

plush   sofa-cushions   and   the   avenues 
like  mossy  caves. 

I  have  read  till  my  eyes  are  crossed 
and  I  have  written  to  every  human  I 
know.  I  have  watched  the  giggling  lit 
tle  maids  patter  up  to  a  two-inch 
shrine  and,  flinging  a  word  or  two  to 
Buddha,  use  the  rest  of  their  time  to 
gossip.  And  the  old  lady  who  washes 
her  vegetables  and  her  clothes  in  the 
same  baby-lake  just  outside  my  win 
dow  amuses  me  for  at  least  ten  min 
utes.  Then,  Mate,  for  real  satisfac 
tion,  I  must  turn  to  you,  whose  patience 
is  elastic  and  enduring.  It  is  one  of 
my  big  joys  that  your  interest  and  love 
are  just  the  same,  as  in  those  other 
days  when  you  packed  me  off  to  Japan 
for  the  good  of  my  country  and  my 
self;  and  then  sent  Jack  after  me. 
Guess  I  should  have  stayed  at  home,  as 
Jack  told  me,  but  I  am  glad  I  did  not. 
71 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

Though  it  has  poured  every  minute 
I  have  been  here,  there  have  been  bursts 
of  sunshine  inside,  if  not  out.  The 
other  day  my  table  boy  brought  me  the 
menu  and  asked  for  an  explanation  of 
assorted  fruits.  I  told  him  very  care 
fully  it  meant  mixed,  different  kinds. 
He  is  a  smart  lad.  He  understands  my 
Japanese!  He  grasped  my  meaning 
immediately,  and  wrote  it  down  in  a  lit 
tle  book.  This  morning  he  came  to  my 
room  and  announced:  " Please,  Lady, 
some  assorted  guests  await  you  in  the 
audience  chamber;  one  Japanese  and 
two  American  persons. " 

I  have  had  my  first  letter  from  Sada 
too,  simply  spilling  over  with  youth  and 
enthusiasm.  The  girl  is  stark  mad 
over  the  fairy-landness  of  it  all.  Says 
her  rooms  are  in  Uncle's  private  house, 
which  is  in  quite  a  different  part  of  the 
garden  from  the  tea-house.  (Thank 
72 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

the  Lord  for  small  mercies !)  She  says 
Uncle  has  given  her  some  beautiful 
clothes  and  is  so  good  to  her.  I  dare 
say.  He  has  taken  her  to  see  a  lovely 
old  castle  and  wonderful  temple.  The 
streets  are  all  pictures  and  the  scenery 
is  glorious !  That  is  true,  but  the  girl 
cannot  live  off  scenery  any  more  than  a 
nightingale  can  thrive  on  the  scent  of 
roses.  What  is  coming  when  the  gla 
mour  of  the  scenery  wears  off  and  Un 
cle  puts  on  the  pressure  of  his  will? 

I  have  not  dared  to  give  her  any  sug 
gestion  of  warning.  She  is  deadly 
sure  of  her  duty,  so  enthralled  is  she 
with  the  thought  of  service  to  her 
mother's  people.  If  I  am  to  help  her, 
the  shock  of  disillusionment  must  come 
from  some  other  direction.  The  dis- 
illiisioner  is  seldom  forgiven.  I  do  not 
know  what  plans  are  being  worked  out 
behind  Uncle's  lowered  eyelids.  But  I 
73 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

do  know  his  idea  of  duty  does  not  in 
clude  keeping  such  a  valuable  asset  as  a 
bright  and  beautiful  niece  hid  away  for 
his  solitary  joy.  In  fact,  he  would  con 
sider  himself  a  neglectful  and  alto 
gether  unkind  relative  if  he  did  not 
marry  Sada  off  to  the  very  best  ad 
vantage  to  himself.  In  the  name  of  all 
the  Orient,  what  else  is  there  to  do  with 
a  girl,  and  especially  one  whose  blood  is 
tainted  with  that  of  the  West? 

Well,  Mate,  my  thoughts  grew  so 
thick  on  the  subject  I  nearly  suffocated. 
I  went  for  a  walk  and  ran  right  into  a 
cavalcade  of  donkeys,  jinrickshas  and 
chairs,  headed  by  the  Seeker  and  Dolly, 
who  has  also  annexed  the  little  Maha 
rajah. 

They  had  been  up  to  Chuzenji — and 

Chuzenji  I  would  have  you  know  is 

lovely  enough,  with  its  emerald  lake  and 

rainbow  mists,  to  start  a  man's  tongue 

74 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

to  love-making  whether  he  will  or  not. 
And  so  surely  as  it  is  raining,  some 
thing  has  happened.  Dolly  was  as  gay 
as  a  day-old  butterfly  and  smiled  as  if 
a  curly-headed  Cupid  had  tickled  her 
with  a  wing-feather.  The  Seeker  was 
deadly  solemn.  Possibly  the  after 
math  of  his  impetuosity. 

Oh,  well!  there  is  no  telling  what 
wonders  can  be  worked  by  incurable 
youthfulness  and  treasures  laid  up  in 
a  trust  company. 

The  little  Prince,  with  every  pocket 
and  his  handkerchief  full  of  small  im 
ages  of  Buddha  which  he  was  collect 
ing,  asked  at  once  for  Sada.  His  heart 
was  in  his  eyes,  but  there  is  no  use  tam 
pering  with  a  to-be-incarnation  by  en 
couraging  worldly  thoughts.  So  I  said 
I  had  not  seen  her  since  we  landed. 
They  were  due  on  board  the  Siberia  in 
Yokohama  to-night  on  their  way  to 
75 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

China.  I  waved  them  good  wishes  and 
went  on,  amused  and  not  a  little  trou 
bled.  Worried  over  Sada,  hungry  for 
Jack,  lonesome  for  you.  I  passed  one 
of  the  gorgeous  blue,  green  and  yellow 
gates,  at  the  entrance  of  a  temple.  On 
one  side  is  carved  a  distorted  figure, 
that  looks  like  a  cross  between  an  ele 
phant  and  a  buzzard.  It  is  called 
"Baku,  the  eater  of  evil  dreams. "  My 
word!  but  I  could  furnish  him  a  feast 
that  would  give  him  the  fanciest  case 
of  indigestion  he  ever  knew ! 

Mate,  you  would  have  to  see  Nikko, 
with  its  majestic  cryptomarias,  shelter 
ing  the  red  and  gold  lacquer  temples; 
you  would  have  to  feel  the  mystery  of 
the  gray-green  avenues,  and  have  its 
holy  silences  fall  like  a  benediction 
upon  a  restless  spirit,  to  realize  what 
healing  for  soul  and  body  is  in  the  very 
76 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

air,  to  understand  why  I  joyfully  loi 
tered  for  two  hours  and  came  back  sane 
and  hungry,  but  wet  as  a  fish. 

A V  rite  me  about  the  only  man,  the 
kiddies  and  your  own  blessed  happy 
self. 

I  agree  with  Charity.  '  '  Ef  you  want 
to  spile  a  valuable  wife,  tu'n  her  loose 
in  a  patch  of  idlesomeness. " 

STILL  AT  NIKKO,  August,  1911. 
You  beloved  girl,  I  have  heard  from 
Jack  and  my  heart  is  singing  a  rag 
time  tune  of  joy  and  thanksgiving. 
How  he  laughed  at  me  for  being  too 
foolishly  lonesome  to  stay  in  America 
without  him.  Oh,  these  men!  Does 
he  forget  he  raged  once  upon  a  time, 
when  he  was  in  America  without  me? 
As  long  as  I  am  here  though,  he  wants 
me  to  have  as  good  a  time  as  possible. 
77 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

Do  anything  I  want,  and — blessed 
trusting  man ! — buy  anything  I  see  that 
will  fit  in  the  little  house  at  home. 

Can  you  believe  it?  After  a  fierce 
battle  the  sun  won  out  this  morning, 
and  even  the  blind  would  know  by  the 
dancing  feel  of  the  air  that  it  was  a 
glorious  day.  At  eight  o'clock,  when 
the  little  maids  went  up  to  the  shrine, 
happy  as  kittens  let  out  for  a  romp, 
they  forgot  even  to  look  Buddha-ward 
and  took  up  their  worship  time  in  play 
ing  tag.  The  old  woman  who  uses  the 
five-foot  lake  as  the  family  wash-tub, 
brought  out  all  her  clothes,  the  grand- 
baby,  and  the  snub-nosed  poodle  that 
wears  a  red  bib,  to  celebrate  the  sun 
shine  by  a  carnival  of  washing. 

I  could  not  stand  four  walls  a  minute 
longer.  I  am  down  in  the  garden  writ 
ing  you,  in  a  tea-house  made  with  three 
fishing-poles  and  a  bunch  of  straw.  It 
78 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

is  covered  with  pink  morning-glories  as 
big  as  coffee  cups. 

It  has  been  three  weeks  since  my  last 
letter  and  I  know  your  interest  in  Jack 
and  germs  is  almost  as  great  as  mine. 
Jack  has  been  in  Peking.  He  thinks 
the  revolution  of  the  Chinese  against 
the  Manchu  Government  is  going  to  be 
something  far  more  serious  this  time 
than  a  flutter  of  fans  and  a  sputter  of 
shooting-crackers.  The  long-suffering 
worm  with  the  head  of  a  dragon  is  go 
ing  to  turn,  and  when  it  does,  there  will 
not  be  a  Manchu  left  to  tell  the  pig  tale. 

Jack  is  in  Mukden  now,  where  he  is 
about  to  lose  his  mind  with  joy  over 
the  prospect  of  looking  straight  in  the 
eye — if  it  has  one — this  wicked  old 
germ  with  a  new  label,  and  telling  it 
what  he  thinks.  The  technical  terms 
he  gives  are  as  paralyzing  as  a  Russian 
name  spelled  backwards. 
79 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

In  a  day's  time  this  fearful  thing 
wipes  out  entire  families  and  villages. 
It  has  simply  ravaged  northern  Man 
churia  and  the  country  about.  Jack 
says  so  deadly  are  the  effects  of  these 
germs  in  the  air  that  if  a  man  walking 
along  the  street  happens  to  breathe  in 
one,  he  is  a  corpse  on  the  spot  before 
he  is  through  swallowing.  The  re 
mains  are  gathered  up  by  men  wearing 
shrouds  and  net  masks,  and  the  peace 
ful  Oriental  who  was  not  doing  a  thing 
but  attending  strictly  to  his  own  busi 
ness,  is  soon  reduced  to  ashes.  All  be 
cause  of  a  pesky  microbe  with  a  surplus 
of  energy. 

You  know  perfectly  well,  Mate,  Jack 
does  not  speak  in  this  frivolous  manner 
of  his  beloved  work.  The  interpreta 
tion  is  wholly  mine.  But  I  dare  not  be 
serious  over  it.  I  must  push  any 
80 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

thought  of  his  danger  to  the  further 
ends  of  nowhere. 

Jack  thinks  the  native  doctors  have 
put  up  a  brave  fight,  but  so  far  the 
laugh  has  been  all  on  the  side  of  the 
frisky  germ. 

It  blasts  everything  it  touches  and  is 
most  fastidious.  Nobody  can  blame  it 
for  choosing  as  its  nesting-place  the  lit 
tle  soft  furred  Siberian  marmots, 
which  the  Chinese  hunt  for  their  skin. 
If  only  the  hunters  could  be  given  a  dip 
in  a  sulphur  vat  before  they  lay  them 
down  to  sleep  in  the  unspeakable  inns 
with  their  spoils  wrapped  around  them, 
the  chance  for  infection  would  not  be  so 
great.  Of  course  the  bare  suggestion 
of  a  bath  might  prove  more  fatal  than 
the  plague,  for  oftener  than  not  the 
hunters  are  used  only  as  a  method  of 
travel  by  the  merry  microbe  and  are 
81 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

immune  from  the  effects.  Of  course 
Jack  has  all  sorts  of  theories  as  to  why 
this  is  so.  But  did  you  ever  see  a  sci 
entist  who  didn't  have  a  workable 
theory  for  everything  from  the  wrong 
end  of  a  carpet-tack  to  the  evolution  of 
a  June  bug! 

From  the  hunters  and  their  spoils  the 
disease  spreads  and  their  path  south 
wards  can  be  traced  by  desolated  vil 
lages  and  piles  of  bones. 

Jack  tells  me  he  is  garbed  in  a  long 
white  robe  effect  (I  hope  he  won't  grow 
wings),  with  a  good-sized  mosquito  net 
on  a  frame  over  his  head  and  face.  He 
works  in  heavy  gloves.  Mouth  and 
nose  being  the  favorite  point  of  attack, 
everybody  who  ventures  out  wears  over 
this  part  of  the  face  a  curiously  shaped 
shield,  whose  firm  look  says,  "No  ad 
mittance  here."  But  all  the  same,  that 
germ  from  Siberia  is  a  wily  thief  and 
82 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

steals  lives  by  the  thousands,  in  spite 
of  all  precautions. 

Jack  is  as  enthusiastic  over  the  fight 
against  the  scourge  as  a  college  boy 
over  football.  His  letter  has  so  many 
big  technical  words  in  it,  I  had  to  pay 
excess  postage. 

I  Ve  read  his  letter  twice,  but  to  save 
me  I  cannot  find  any  suggestion  of  the 
remotest  possibility  of  my  coming 
nearer.  Yes,  I  know  I  said  Japan  only. 
But  way  down  in  the  cellar  of  my  heart 
I  hoped  he  would  say  nearer. 

What  a  happy  day  it  has  been.  Here 
is  your  letter,  just  come.  The  priests 
up  at  the  temple  have  asked  me  to  see 
the  ceremony  of  offering  food  to  the 
spirits,  in  the  holy  of  holies. 

There  is  not  time  for  me  to  add  an 
other  word  to  this  letter.  What  a  dear 
you  are,  to  love  while  you  lecture  me. 
What  you  say  is  all  true.  A  woman 's 
83 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

place  is  in  her  home.  But  just  now  out 
of  the  East,  I  Ve  had  a  call  to  play  si 
lent  partner  to  science  and  while  it  's 
a  lonesome  sport,  at  least  it  's  far  more 
entertaining  than  caring  for  a  husband- 
less  house.  Anyhow  I  am  sending  you 
a  hug  and  a  thousand  kisses  for  the 
babies. 

SHOJI  LAKE,  August,  1911. 
Mate,  think  of  the  loveliest  landscape 
picture  you  ever  saw,  put  me  in  it  and 
you  will  know  where  I  am.  With  some 
friends  from  Honolulu  and  a  darling 
old  man — observe  I  say  old! — from  Col 
orado,  we  started  two  days  ago,  to  walk 
around  the  base  of  Fuji.  Everything 
went  splendidly  till  a  typhoon  hit  us 
amidships  and  sent  us  careening,  blind, 
battered  and  soaked  into  this  red  and 
white  refuge  of  a  hotel,  that  clings  to 
the  side  of  a  mountain  like  a  wood- 
84 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

pecker  to  a  telephone  pole.  I  have  seen 
storms,  but  the  worst  I  ever  saw  was  a 
playful  summer  breeze  compared  with 
the  magnificent  fury  of  this  wind  that 
snapped  great  trees  in  two  as  if  they 
had  been  young  bean-poles,  and 
whipped  the  usually  peaceful  lake  into 
raging  waves  that  swept  through  a 
gorge  and  greedily  licked  up  a  whole 
village. 

Our  path  was  high  up,  but  right  over 
the  water.  Sometimes  we  were  crawl 
ing  on  all  fours.  Mostly  we  were  fly 
ing  just  where  the  wind  listed.  If  a 
tree  got  in  our  way  as  we  flew,  so  much 
the  worse  for  us.  It  is  funny  now,  but 
it  was  not  at  the  time!  Seriously,  I 
was  in  immediate  peril  of  being  blown 
to  glory  via  the  fierce  green  foam  be 
low.  My  Colorado  Irishman  is  not 
only  a  darling,  but  a  hero.  Once  I 
slipped,  and  stopped  rolling  only  when 
85 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

some  faithful  pines  were  too  stubborn 
to  let  go. 

I  was  many  feet  below  the  reach  of 
any  arm.  In  a  twinkling,  my  friend 
had  stripped  the  kimono  off  the  bag 
gage  coolie's  back,  and  made  a  lasso 
with  which  he  pulled  me  up.  Then 
shocked  to  a  standstill  by  the  shortcom 
ings  of  the  coolie's  birthday  suit,  he 
snatched  off  his  coat  and  gave  it  to  him, 
with  a  dollar.  Such  a  procession  of 
bedraggled  and  exhausted  pleasure- 
seekers  as  we  were,  when  three  men 
stood  behind  our  hotel  door  and  opened 
it  just  wide  enough  to  haul  us  in.  But 
hot  baths  and  boiling  tea  revived  us  and 
soon  we  were  as  merry  as  any  people 
can  be  who  have  just  escaped  annihila 
tion. 

The  typhoon  passed  as  suddenly  as 
it  came,  and  now  the  world — or  at  least 
this  part  of  it — is  as  glowing  and  beau- 
86 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

tiful  as  if  freshly  tinted  by  the  Master 
Hand. 

A  moment  ago  I  looked  up  to  see  my 
rescuer  gazing  out  of  the  window.  I 
asked,  "How  do  you  feel,  Mr.  Carson f  " 
His  voice  trembled  when  he  answered: 
"Lady,  I  feel  glorified,  satisfied  and 
nigh  about  petrified.  Look  at  that!" 

Below  lay  Shoji,  its.  shimmering  wa 
ters  rimmed  with  velvety  green.  Every 
raindrop  on  the  pines  was  a  prism ;  the 
mountain  a  brocade  of  blossom.  To 
the  right  Fuji,  the  graceful,  ever  lovely 
Fuji;  capricious  as  a  coquette  and  be 
witching  in  her  mystery,  with  a  thumb 
nail  moon  over  her  peak,  like  a  silver 
tiara  on  the  head  of  a  proud  beauty; 
at  her  base  the  last  fleecy  clouds  of  the 
day,  gathered  like  worshipers  at  the 
feet  of  some  holy  saint. 

The  man's  face  shone.  For  forty 
years  he  had  worked  at  harness-mak- 
87 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

ing,  always  with  the  vision  before  him 
that  some  day  he  might  take  this  trip 
around  the  world.  He  has  the  soul  of 
an  artist,  which  has  been  half  starved  in 
the  narrow  environment  of  his  small 
town  life.  Cannot  you  imagine  the 
mad  revel  of  his  soul  in  this  picture- 
land? 

He  is  going  to  Mukden.  Of  course 
I  told  him  all  about  Jack's  work.  The 
old  fellow,  he  must  be  all  of  seventy, 
was  thrilled.  I  am  going  to  give  him  a 
letter  to  Jack.  Also  to  some  friends 
in  Peking ;  they  will  be  good  to  him.  If 
anybody  deserves  a  merry-go-round 
sort  of  a  holiday,  he  does.  Think  of 
sewing  on  saddles  and  bridles  all  these 
years,  when  his  heart  was  withering  for 
beauty! 

I  am  glad  of  your  eager  interest  in 
Sada.  How  like  you!  Never  too  ab 
sorbed  in  your  own  life  to  share  other 
88 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

people's  joys  and  sorrows  and  festivi 
ties. 

If  your  wise  bead  evolves  a  plan  of 
action,  send  by  wireless,  for  if  I  read 
arigbt  ber  message  received  to-day,  tbe 
time  is  fast  coming  wben  tbe  red  ligbts 
of  danger  will  be  flasbing.  I  will 
quote:  "Last  nigbt  Uncle  asked  me  to 
sing  to  some  people  wbo  were  giving  a 
dinner  at  tbe  tea-bouse.  I  put  on  my 
loveliest  kimono  and  a  bair-dresser  did 
my  bair  in  tbe  old  Japanese  style  and 
stuck  a  red  rose  at  tbe  side.  For  tbe 
first  time  I  went  into  tbat  beautiful, 
beautiful  place  my  Uncle  calls  "tbe 
Flower  Blooming "  tea-bouse.  It  was 
more  like  a  fairy  palace.  How  tbe 
girls,  wbo  live  tbere,  laugbed  at  my 
guitar.  Tbey  bad  never  seen  one  be 
fore.  How  tbey  wbispered  over  tbe 
color  of  my  eyes.  Said  tbey  matcbed 
my  kimono,  and  tbey  tittered  over  my 
89 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

clumsiness  in  sitting  on  the  floor.  But 
I  forgot  everything  when  the  door  slid 
open  and  I  looked  into  the  most  won 
derful  dream-garden  that  ever  was,  and 
people  everywhere.  I  finished  singing, 
there  was  clapping  and  loud  banzais. 
I  looked  up  and  realized  there  were  only 
men  at  this  dinner  and  I  never  saw  so 
many  bottles  in  all  my  life.  I  felt  very 
strange  and  so  far  away  from  dear 
Susan  West.  After  I  had  sung  once 
more  I  started  back  to  my  home.  Uncle 
met  me.  I  told  him  I  was  going  to  bed. 
For  the  first  time  he  was  cross  and  or 
dered  me  back  to  the  play  place,  where 
I  was  to  stay  until  he  came  for  me. 
There  never  was  anything  so  lovely  as 
the  green  and  pink  garden  and  the  lily- 
shaped  lights,  and  the  flowers;  and 
such  pretty  girls  who  knew  just  what  to 
do.  But  I  cannot  understand  the  men 
who  come  here.  When  dear  old  Billy  " 
90 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

—Hum  heaven  she  says  dear  Billy!— 
"  talks  I  know  just  what  he  means. 
But  these  men  use  so  many  words 
Susan  never  taught  me,  and  laugh  so 
loud  when  they  say  them. 

"  There  was  one  man  named  Hara 
whose  clothes  were  simply  gorgeous. 
The  girls  say  he  is  very  rich,  and  a 
great  friend  of  Uncle 's !  He  may  hare 
money,  but  he  is  not  over-burdened 
with  manners.  He  can  out-stare  an 
owl." 

There  was  more.  But  that  is  enough 
to  show  me  Uncle's  hand  as  plainly  as 
if  I  were  a  palmist.  If  nothing  hap 
pens  to  prevent,  the  man  promises  to 
do  what  thousands  of  his  kind  have 
done  before:  regardless  of  obstacles 
and  consequences  marry  the  girl  off  to 
the  highest  bidder;  rid  himself  of  all 
responsibility  and  make  a  profit  at  the 
same  time.  From  his  point  of  view  it 
91 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

is  the  only  thing  to  do.  He  would  be 
the  most  astonished  uncle  in  Mikado- 
land  if  anybody  suggested  to  him  that 
Sada  had  any  rights  or  feelings  in  the 
matter.  He  would  tell  you  that  as 
Sada's  only  male  relative,  custom  gave 
him  the  right  to  dispose  of  her  as  he 
saw  fit,  and  custom  is  law  and  there  is 
nothing  back  of  that! 

So  far  I  have  played  only  a  thinking 
part  in  the  drama.  But  I  will  not 
stand  by  and  see  the  girl,  whose  very 
loneliness  is  a  plea,  sacrificed  without 
some  kind  of  a  struggle  to  help  her.  At 
the  present  writing  I  feel  about  as  ef 
fective  as  a  February  lamb,  and  every 
move  calls  for  tact.  Wish  I  had  been 
born  with  a  needle  wit  instead  of  a  Bo- 
man  nose !  For  if  Uncle  has  a  glimmer 
of  a  suspicion  that  I  would  befriend 
Sada  at  the  cost  of  his  plans,  so  surely 
as  the  river  is  lost  in  the  sea,  Sada 
92 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

would  disappear  from  my  world  until 
it  was  too  late  for  me  to  lend  a  hand. 

Good-by,  Mate.  At  eventide,  as  of 
old,  look  my  way  and  send  me  strength 
from  your  vast  store  of  calm  courage 
and  common  sense.  The  odds  are 
against  me,  but  the  god  of  luck  has 
never  yet  failed  to  laugh  with  me. 

September,  1911. 

I  am  in  a  monastery,  Mate,  but  only 
temporarily, thank  you.  It  is  a  blessing 
to  the  cause  that  Fate  did  not  turn  me 
into  a  monk  or  a  sister  or  any  of  those 
inconvenient  things  with  a  restless  re 
ligion,  that  wakes  you  up  about  3  A.  M. 
on  a  wintry  dawn  to  pray  shiveringly 
to  a  piece  of  wood,  to  the  tune  of  a 
thumping  drum.  Some  morning  when 
the  frost  was  on  the  cypress  that  carven 
image  would  disappear! 

For  one  time  at  least  I  would  have  a 
93 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

nice  fire,  and  my  prayers  would  not  be 
decorated  with  icicles. 

For  two  weeks  my  friends  and  I  have 
been  tramping  through  picture-book 
villages  and  silk-worm  country,  and 
over  mountain  winding  ways,  sleeping 
on  the  floor,  sitting  on  our  feet  and 
giving  our  stomachs  surprise  parties 
with  hot,  cold  and  lukewarm  rice,  sea 
weed  and  devil-fish. 

It  has  been  one  hilarious  lark  of  out 
door  life,  with  nothing  to  pin  us  to 
earth  but  the  joy  of  being  a  part  of  so 
beautiful  a  world. 

The  road  led  us  through  superb  for 
ests,  over  the  Bridge  of  Paradise  to 
Koyo  San,  whose  peak  is  so  far  above 
the  mist-wreathed  valleys  that  it 
scrapes  the  clouds  as  they  float  by. 
But  I  want  to  say  right  here;  Kobo 
Daishi,  who  founded  this  monastery  in 
the  distant  ages  and  built  a  temple  to 
94 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

his  own  virtues,  may  have  been  a  saint, 
but  he  was  not  much  of  a  gentleman! 
Else  he  would  not  have  been  so  reckless 
of  the  legs  and  necks  of  the  coming 
generations,  as  to  blaze  the  trail  to  his 
shrine  over  mountains  so  steep  that  our 
pack-mule  coming  up  could  easily  have 
bitten  off  his  own  tail  if  he  had  so 
minded. 

Later. 

This  afternoon  I  must  hustle  down. 
I  suppose  the  only  way  to  get  down  is 
to  roll.  Well ;  anyway  I  am  in  a  hurry. 
My  mail  beat  me  up  the  trail  and  a  let 
ter  from  Sada  San  begs  me  to  come  to 
Kioto  to  see  her  as  soon  as  I  can.  She 
only  says  she  needs  help  and  does  not 
know  what  to  do.  And  blessed  be  the 
telegram  that  winds  up  from  Hiro 
shima;  the  school  is  in  urgent  need  of 
an  assistant  at  the  Kindergarten  and 
95 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

they  ask  me  to  come.  The  principal, 
Miss  Look, has  gone  to  America  on  busi 
ness,  for  three  months.  Hooray! 
Here  is  my  chance  to  resign  from  the 
" Folded  Hands'  Society"  and  do  some 
thing  that  is  really  worth  while,  as  long 
as  I  cannot  go  to  my  man.  How  good 
it  will  seem  once  again  to  be  in  that 
dear  old  mission  school,  where  in  the 
long  ago  I  toiled  and  laughed  and  suf 
fered  while  I  waited  for  Jack. 

The  prospect  of  being  with  the  girls 
and  the  kiddies  again  makes  me  want 
to  do  a  Highland  Fling,  even  if  I  am  in 
a  monastery  with  a  sad-faced  young 
priest  serving  me  tea  and  mournful 
sighs  between  prayers. 

What  a  flirtatious  old  world  it  is  after 

all.     It   smites   you   and  bruises   you, 

then  binds  up  the  hurts  by  giving  you 

a  desire  or  so  of  your  heart.     Just  now 

96 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

the  desire  of  my  heart  is  to  catch  that 
train  for  Kioto. 

So  here  goes  a  prayer,  pinned  to  a 
shrine,  for  a  body  intact  as  I  tread 
the  path  that  drops  straight  down  the 
mountain,  through  the  crimson  glory 
of  the  maples  and  the  blazing  yellow 
of  the  gingko  tree,  to  the  tiny  little  sta 
tion  far  away  that  looks  like  a  deco 
rated  hen-coop. 

KIOTO,  September,  1911. 
Dearest  Mate: 

I  cannot  spend  a  drop  of  ink  in  tell 
ing  you  how  I  got  here.  How  the  bag 
gage  beast  ran  away  and  decorated  the 
mountain  shrubbery  with  my  belong 
ings.  And  how  after  all  my  hurry  of 
dropping  down  from  Koyo  San,  the 
brakesman  forgot  to  hook  our  car  to 
the  train  and  started  off  on  a  picnic 
97 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

while  the  engine  went  merrily  on  and 
left  us  out  in  the  rice-fields.  Suffice  it 
to  say  I  landed  in  a  whirl  that  spun  me 
down  to  Uncle's  house  and  back  to  the 
hotel.  And  by  the  way  my  thoughts 
are  going,  for  all  I  know  I  may  be 
booked  to  spin  on  through  eternity. 

My  visit  to  Sada  was  so  full  of  things 
that  did  not  happen.  When  I  reached 
the  house,  I  sent  in  my  card  to  Sada. 
Uncle  came  gliding  in  like  a  soft-footed 
panther.  He  did  it  so  quietly  that  I 
jumped  when  I  saw  him.  We  took  up 
valuable  time  repeating  polite  greet 
ings,  as  set  down  on  page  ten  of  the 
Book  of  Etiquette,  in  the  chapter  on 
Calls  Made  by  Inconvenient  Foreign 
ers. 

When  our  countless  bows  were  fin 
ished,  I  asked  in  my  coaxingest  voice  if 
I  might  see  Sada.  Presently  she  came 
in,  dressed  in  Japanese  clothes  and 
98 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

beautiful  even  in  her  pallor.  She  was 
changed — sad,  and  a  little  drooping. 
The  conflict  of  her  ideals  of  duty  to  her 
mother's  people  and  the  real  facts  in 
the  case,  had  marked  her  face  with 
something  far  deeper  than  girlish  in 
nocence.  It  was  inevitable.  But  above 
the  evidences  of  struggle  there  was  a 
something  which  said  the  dead  and 
gone  Susan  West  had  left  more  than  a 
mere  memory.  Silently  I  blessed  all 
her  kind. 

Sada  was  unfeignedly  glad  to  see  me, 
and  I  longed  to  take  her  in  my  arms 
and  kiss  her.  But  such  a  display 
would  have  marked  me  in  Uncle's  eyes 
as  a  dangerous  woman  with  unsup- 
pressed  emotions,  and  unfit  for  com 
panionship  with  Sada.  I  had  hoped 
his  Book  of  Etiquette  said,  "  After  this, 
bow  and  depart."  But  my  hopes  had 
not  a  pin-feather  to  rest  on.  He  stayed 
99 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

right  where  he  was.  All  right,  old 
Uncle,  thought  I,  if  stay  you  will,  then 
I  shall  use  all  a  woman's  power  to  be 
guile  you  and  a  woman's  wit  to  out- 
trick  you,  so  I  can  make  you  show  your 
hand.  It  is  going  to  be  a  game  with 
the  girl  as  the  prize.  It  is  also  going 
to  be  like  playing  leap-frog  with  a  por 
cupine.  He  has  cunning  and  authority 
to  back  him,  and  I  have  only  my  love 
for  Sada. 

For  a  time  I  talked  at  random,  di 
recting  my  whole  conversation  to  him 
as  the  law  demands.  By  accident,  or 
luck,  I  learned  that  the  weak  point  in 
his  armor  of  polite  reserve  was  color 
prints.  Just  talk  color  prints  to  a  col 
lector  and  you  can  pick  his  pocket  with 
perfect  ease. 

My  knowledge  of  color  prints  could 
be  written  on  my  thumb  nail.  But  I 
made  a  long  and  dangerous  shot,  by 
100 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

looking  wise  and  asking  if  he  thought 
Matahei  compared  favorably  with 
Moronobo  as  painters  of  the  same  era. 
I  choked  off  a  gasp  when  I  said  it,  for 
I  would  have  you  know  that  for  all  I 
knew,  Matahei  might  have  lived  in  the 
time  of  Jacob  and  Eebecca,  and  Moro 
nobo  a  thousand  years  afterwards. 
But  I  guessed  right  the  very  first  time 
and  Mura  San,  with  a  flash  of  apprecia 
tion  at  my  interest,  said  that  my 
learning  was  remarkable.  It  was  an 
untruth  and  he  knew  that  I  knew  it, 
but  it  was  courteous  and  I  looked 
easy.  Then  he  talked  long  and  de 
lightfully  as  only  lovers  of  such 
things  can.  At  least,  it  would  have 
been  delightful  had  I  not  been  so  anx 
ious  to  see  Sada  alone.  But  it  was  not 
to  be.  At  least,  not  then.  But  mark 
one  for  me,  Mate:  Uncle  was  so 
pleased  with  my  keen  and  hungry  in- 
101 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

terest  in  color  prints  and  my  desire  to 
see  his  collection,  that  he  invited  me  to 
a  feast  and  a  dance  at  the  house  the 
next  night. 

The  following  evening  I  could  have 
hugged  the  person,  male  or  otherwise, 
who  called  my  dear  host  away  for  a  few 
minutes  just  before  the  feast  began. 

Sada  told  me  hurriedly  that  Uncle 
had  insisted  on  her  singing  every  night 
at  the  tea-house.  She  had  first  rebelled, 
and  then  flatly  refused,  for  she  did  not 
like  the  girls.  She  hated  what  she  saw 
and  was  afraid  of  the  men.  Her  mas 
ter  was  furiously  angry;  said  he  would 
teach  her  what  obedience  meant  in  this 
country.  He  would  marry  her  off 
right  away  and  be  rid  of  a  girl  who 
thought  her  foreign  religion  gave  her  a 
right  to  disobey  her  relatives.  She 
was  afraid  he  would  do  it,  for  he  had 
not  asked  her  to  go  to  the  tea-house 
102 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

again.  Neither  had  he  permitted  her 
to  go  out  of  the  house.  Once  she  was 
sick  with  fear,  for  she  knew  Uncle  had 
been  in  a  long  consultation  with  the  rich 
man  Hara  and  he  was  in  such  good 
humor  afterwards.  But  Hara,  she 
learned,  had  gone  away. 

She  would  not  sing  at  these  dinners 
again,  not  if  Uncle  choked  her  and  what 
must  she  do !  I  saw  the  man  returning 
but  I  quickly  whispered,  "What  about 
Billy  1" 

Ah,  I  knew  I  was  right.  The  rose  in 
her  hair  was  no  pinker  than  her  cheeks. 
If  Billy  could  only  have  seen  her  then, 
I  would  wager  my  shoes — and  shoes  are 
precious  in  this  country — that  her  duty 
to  her  mother's  people  would  have  to 
take  a  back  seat. 

Before  Uncle  reached  us  I  whispered, 
"Keep  Billy  in  your  heart,  Sada. 
Write  him.  Tell  him."  And  in  the 
103 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

same  breath  I  heartily  thanked  Uncle 
for  inviting  me. 

It  was  a  feast,  Mate — the  most  pic 
turesque,  uneatable  feast  I  ever  sat  on 
my  doubly  honorable  feet  to  consume. 
There  were  opal-eyed  fish  with  shaded 
pink  scales,  served  whole;  soft  brown 
eels  split  up  the  back  and  laid  on  a  bed 
of  green  moss;  soups,  thin  and  thick; 
lotus  root  and  mountain  lily,  and  raw 
fish.  Each  course — and  their  name 
was  many — was  served  on  a  little  two- 
inch-high  lacquer  table,  with  every 
thing  to  match.  Sometimes  it  was  gold 
lacquer,  then  again  green,  once  red  and 
another  black.  But  it  was  all  a  dream 
of  color  that  shaded  in  with  the  little 
maids  who  served  it;  and  they,  swift, 
noiseless  and  pretty,  were  trained  to 
graceful  perfection.  The  few  furnish 
ings  of  the  room  were  priceless.  Uncle 
sat  by  in  his  silken  robes,  gracious  and 
104 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

courteous,  surprising  me  with  Iris 
knowledge  of  current  events.  In  the 
guise  of  host,  he  is  charming.  That  is, 
if  only  he  would  not  always  talk  with 
dropped  eyelids,  giving  the  impression 
that  he  is  half  dreaming  and  is  only 
partly  conscious  of  the  world  and  its 
follies.  And  all  the  time  I  know  per 
fectly  well  that  he  sees  everything 
around  him  and  clean  on  to  the  city 
limits. 

Again  and  again  in  his  talks  he  re 
ferred  to  his  color  prints  and  the  years 
of  patience  required  to  collect  them. 
Eight  then,  Mate,  I  made  a  vow  to 
study  the  pesky  things  as  they  have 
seldom  been  attacked  before — even 
though  I  never  had  much  use  for 
pictures  in  which  you  cannot  tell  the 
top  side  from  the  bottom,  without  a 
label.  But  then,  Jack  says,  my  artistic 
temperament  will  never  keep  me  awake 
105 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

at  night.  Now  I  decided  all  at  once  to 
make  a  collection.  Heaven  knows  what 
I  will  do  with  it.  But  Uncle  grew  so 
enthusiastic  he  included  his  niece  in  the 
conversation,  and  while  his  humor  was 
at  high  tide  I  coaxed  him  into  a  prom 
ise  that  Sada  might  come  down  to  Hiro 
shima  very  soon,  and  help  me  look  for 
prints. 

Yes,  indeed  there  was  a  dance  after 
wards,  and  everything  was  deadly, 
hysterically  solemn — so  rigidly  proper, 
so  stiffly  conventional  that  it  palled. 
It  was  the  most  maleless  house  of  rev 
elry  I  ever  saw.  Why,  even  the  kake 
mono  were  pictures  of  perfect  ladies 
and  the  gate-man  was  a  withered  old 
woman. 

There  was  absolutely  nothing  wrong 

I  could  name.     It  was  all  exquisitely, 

daintily,  lawfully  Japanese.    But  I  sat 

by    my    window    till    early    morning. 

106 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

There  was  a  very  ghost  of  a  summer 
moon.  Out  of  the  night  came  the  vel 
vety  tones  of  a  mighty  bell;  the  sing 
song  prayers  of  many  priests ;  the  rip 
pling  laugh  of  a  little  child  and  the 
tinkling  of  a  samisen.  Every  sound 
made  for  simple  joy  and  peace.  But  I 
thought  of  the  girl  somewhere  beyond 
the  twinkling  street  lights,  who,  with 
mixed  races  in  her  blood  and  a  strange 
religion  in  her  heart,  had  dreamed 
dreams  of  this  as  a  perfect  land,  and 
was  now  paying  the  price  of  disillu 
sionment  with  bitter  tears. 

Eight  o  'clock  the  next  morning. 
I  cabled  Jack,  "Hiroshima  for  win 
ter.  " 

He  answered,  "Thank  the  Lord  you 
are  nailed  down  at  last." 

P.  S. — I  have  bought  all  the  books  on 
color  prints  I  could  find. 
107 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

October,  1911. 

Hiroshima!  Get  up  and  salute, 
Mate!  Is  not  that  name  like  the  face 
of  an  old  familiar  friend?  I  have  to 
shake  myself  to  realize  that  it  is  not  the 
long  ago,  but  now.  A  recent  picture 
of  Jack  and  one  of  you  and  the  babies 
is  about  the  only  touch  of  the  present. 
Everything  is  just  as  it  was  in  the  old 
days,  when  the  difficulties  of  teaching 
in  a  foreign  kindergarten  in  a  foreigner 
language  was  the  least  of  the  battle  that 
faced  me.  Well,  I  thought  I  'd  finished 
with  battles,  but  there  's  a  feeling  of 
fight  in  the  air. 

Same  little  room,  in  the  same  old  mis 
sion  school.  Same  wall  paper,  so  blue 
it  turned  green.  And,  Lord  love  us, 
from  the  music-rooms  still  come  the 
sounds  like  all  the  harmonies  of  a  baby 
organ-factory  gone  on  a  strike. 

But  bless  you,  honey,  there  is  an 
108 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

eternity  of  difference  in  having  to 
stand  a  thing  and  doing  it  of  your  own 
free  will.  As  Black  Charity  would  re 
mark,  "I  don't  pay  'em  no  mind,"  and 
let  them  wheeze  out  their  mournful 
complaints  to  the  same  old  hymns. 

Had  you  been  here  the  night  my 
dinky  little  train  pulled  into  the  sta 
tion,  you  would  have  guessed  that  it 
was  a  big  Fourth  of  July  celebration 
or  the  Emperor's  birthday.  I  would 
not  dare  guess  how  many  girls  there 
were  to  meet  me.  It  seemed  like  half 
a  mile  of  them  lined  up  on  the  platform, 
and  each  carried  a  round  red  lantern. 

Until  they  had  made  the  proper  bow 
with  deadly  precision,  there  was  not  a 
smile  or  a  sound.  That  ceremony  over, 
they  charged  down  upon  me  in  an  ava 
lanche  of  gaiety.  They  waved  their 
lanterns,  they  called  banzai,  they 
laughed  and  sung  some  of  the  old  time 
109 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

foolish  songs  we  used  to  sing.  They 
promptly  put  to  rout  all  legends  of 
their  excessive  modesty  and  shyness. 
They  were  just  young  and  girlish. 
Plain  happy.  Eager  and  sweet  in  their 
generous  welcome.  It  warmed  every 
fiber  of  my  being.  When  they  thinned 
out  a  little,  I  saw  at  the  other  end  of 
the  platform  a  figure  flying  towards  me, 
with  the  sleeves  of  her  kimono  out 
stretched  like  the  wings  of  a  gray  bird, 
and  a  great  red  rose  for  a  top-knot.  It 
was  Miss  First  Kiver,  a  little  late,  but 
more  than  happy,  as  she  sobbed  out  her 
welcome  on  the  front  of  my  clean  shirt 
waist. 

It  was  she,  you  remember,  who  in  all 
those  other  years  was  my  faithful  sec 
retary  and  general  comforter.  The  one 
who  slept  across  my  door  when  I  was  ill 
and  who  never  forgot  the  hot  water  bag 
on  a  cold  night.  For  years  she  has 
110 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

supported  a  drunken  father  and  a  crazy 
mother;  has  sent  one  brother  to  Amer 
ica  and  made  a  preacher  of  another. 

Now  she  is  to  be  married,  she  told  me 
in  a  little  note  she  slipped  into  my  hand 
as  we  walked  up  the  Street  of  the  Up 
per  Flowing  River  to  the  school,  adding, 
"Please  guess  my  heart. " 

And  miracle  of  the  East!  She  has 
known  the  man  a  long  time  and  they 
are  in  love!  I  am  so  glad  I  am  going 
to  be  here  for  the  wedding.  It  comes 
off  in  a  few  weeks. 

I  started  work  in  the  kindergarten 
this  morning.  It  has  been  said  that 
when  the  Lord  ran  out  of  mothers 
he  made  kindergartners.  Surely  he 
never  did  a  better  job — for  the  kinder 
gartners.  Mate,  when  I  stepped  into 
that  room,  it  was  like  going  into  an  en 
chanted  garden  of  morning-glories  and 
dahlias.  What  a  greeting  the  regiment 
111 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

of  young  Japlings  gave  me!  I  just 
drank  in  all  the  fragrance  of  joy  in  the 
eager  comradeship  and  sweet  friendli 
ness  of  the  small  Mikados  and  Mika- 
doesses  with  a  keen  delight  that  made 
the  hours  spin  like  minutes. 

And  would  you  believe  it?  The  first 
sound  that  greeted  my  ears  after  their 
whole  duty  had  been  accomplished  in 
the  very  formal  bow,  was — "Oh — it  is 
the  skit  ten  Sensei  (skipping  teacher) 
A  skit!  A  skit!  We  want  to  skit!" 
Of  course,  they  were  not  the  same  chil 
dren  by  many  years.  But  things  die 
slowly  in  Hiroshima.  Even  good  repu 
tations.  Everything  was  pushed  aside, 
and  work  or  no  work,  teachers  and  chil 
dren  celebrated  by  one  mad  revel  of 
skipping. 

There  are  many  things  to  do,  and  get 
ting  into  the  old  harness  of  steady 
routine  work  and  living  on  the  tap  of 
112 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

a  bell,  is  not  so  easy  as  it  sounds,  after 
years  of  live-as-you-please.  But  it  is 
good  for  the  constitution  and  is  satis 
fying  to  the  soul. 

I  once  asked  my  friend  Carson  from 
Colorado  if  he  could  choose  but  one  gift 
in  all  the  world,  what  would  it  be! 
"The  contintment  of  stidy  work,"  an 
swered  the  wise  old  philosopher  from 
out  of  the  West;  and  my  heart  echoes 
his  wisdom. 

Had  a  big  fat  letter  from  Jack,  and 
the  reputation  he  gives  those  germs  he 
is  associating  with,  is  simply  disgrace 
ful.  He  gives  me  statistics  also.  "Wish 
he  wouldn't.  It  takes  so  much  time 
and  I  always  have  to  count  on  my  fin 
gers. 

He  tells  me,  too,  of  an  English  woman 

who  has  joined  the  insect  expedition. 

Says  she  is  the  most  brilliant  woman 

he   ever   met.     Thanks   awfully.    And 

113 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

he  has  to  sit  up  nights  studying,  to  keep 
up  with  her.     I  dare  say. 

I  '11  wager  she  7s  high  of  color  and 
mighty  of  muscle  and  with  equal  ve 
hemence  says  a  thing  is  "strawdn'ry" 
whether  it  's  a  dewdrop  or  a  spouting 
volcano. 

I  can't  help  feeling  a  little  bit  envious 
of  her — out  there  with  my  Jack !  "Well ! 
I  will  not  get  agitated  till  I  have  to. 

A  note  from  Sada  says  Uncle  has  had 
another  outburst.  He  still  consents 
for  her  to  come  down  here.  Her  beau 
tiful  ideals  have  been  smashed  to 
smithereens,  and  the  fact  that  nothing 
has  ever  been  invented  that  will  stick 
them  together,  adds  no  comfort  to 
the  situation.  Her  disappointment  is 
heart-breaking.  I  cannot  make  a  move 
till  I  get  her  to  myself  and  have  a  life- 
and-death  talk  with  her.  I  am  playing 
for  time. 

114 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

I  wrote  her  a  cheerfully  foolish  let 
ter.  Told  her  I  was  making  all  kinds 
of  plans  for  her  visit.  I  also  looked  up 
some  doubtful  dates — at  least,  my  text 
book  on  color  prints  said  they  were 
doubtful — and  referred  them  to  Uncle 
for  confirmation,  asking  that  he  give  in 
structions  to  Sada  about  a  certain 
dealer  in  Hiroshima  who  has  some 
pictures  so  violent,  positively  I  would 
not  hang  them  in  the  cow-shed.  That 
is,  if  I  cared  for  Suky.  But  it  is  any 
thing  for  conversation  now. 

I  almost  forgot  to  tell  you  that  we 
have  the  same  chef  as  when  I  was  kin 
dergarten  teacher  here  in  the  school 
years  ago.  He  's  prosperous  as  a 
pawnbroker.  He  gave  me  a  radiant 
greeting.  "How  are  you,  Tanaka?" 
quoth  I.  "All  same  like  damn  monkey, 
Sensei,"  he  replied.  But  he  is  unfail 
ingly  cheerful  and  the  cleverest  grafter 
115 


The   Lady  and  Sada  San 

in  the  universe,  with  an  artistic  temper 
ament  highly  developed;  he  sometimes 
sends  in  the  unchewable  roast  smoth 
ered  in  cherry  blossoms. 

How  wise  you  were,  Mate,  to  choose 
home  and  husband  instead  of  a  career. 
I  love  you  for  it. 

HIROSHIMA,  October,  1911. 
For  springing  surprises,  all  full  of 
kindness  and  delicate  courtesies,  Japa 
nese  girls  would  be  difficult  to  equal. 
Before  a  whisper  of  it  reached  me,  they 
made  arrangements  the  other  day  for 
a  re-union  of  all  my  graduates  of  the 
kindergarten  normal  class.  It  is  hard 
to  imagine  when  they  found  the  time 
for  the  elaborate  decorations  they  put 
up  in  the  big  kindergarten  room,  and 
the  hundred  and  one  little  things  they 
had  done  to  show  their  love  and  warmth 
of  welcome.  It  was  a  part  of  their  play 
116 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

to  blindfold  me  and  lead  me  in.  When 
I  opened  my  eyes,  there  they  stood. 
Twenty-five  happy  faces  smiling  into 
mine,  and  twenty  babies  to  match.  It 
was  the  kiddies  that  saved  the  day.  I 
was  not  a  little  bewildered,  and  tears 
stung  my  eyes.  But  with  one  accord 
the  babies  set  up  a  howl  at  anything  so 
inconceivable  as  a  queer  foreign  thing 
with  a  tan  head  appearing  in  their 
midst.  When  peace  was  restored  by 
natural  methods,  the  fun  began. 

The  girls  fairly  bombarded  me  with 
questions.  Could  I  come  to  see  every 
one  of  them  I  Where  was  Jack?  Could 
they  see  his  picture?  Did  he  say  I 
could  come?  How  " glad "  it  was  to  be 
together  again.  Did  I  remember  how 
we  used  to  play?  Then  everybody  gig 
gled.  One  thought  had  touched  them 
all.  Why  not  play  now ! 

The  baby  question  was  quickly  set- 
117 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

tied.  Soon  there  was  a  roaring  fire  in 
my  study.  We  raided  the  classroom 
for  rugs  and  cushions  and  with  the  col 
lection  made  down  beds  in  a  half  ring 
around  the  crackling  flames.  On  each 
we  put  a  baby,  feet  fireward.  We 
called  in  the  Obasan  (old  woman)  to 
play  nurse,  and  on  the  table  near  we 
placed  a  row  of  bottles  marked  "  First 
aid  to  the  hungry/'  As  I  closed  the 
door  of  the  emergency  nursery,  I  looked 
back  to  see  a  semi-circle  of  pink  heels 
waving  hilariously.  Surely  the  fire 
goddess  never  had  lovelier  devotees 
than  the  Oriental  cherubs  that  lay  coo 
ing  and  kicking  before  it  that  day. 

How  we  played!  In  all  the  flowery 
kingdom  so  many  foolish  people  could 
not  have  been  found  in  one  place.  What 
chaff  and  banter!  What  laying  aside 
of  cares,  responsibilities,  and  heavy 
hearts,  if  there  were  any,  and  just  being 
118 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

free  and  young!  For  a  time  at  least 
the  years  fell  away  from  us  and  we 
relived  all  the  games  and  folk-dances 
we  ever  knew.  True,  time  had  stiff 
ened  joints  and  some  of  the  movements 
were  about  as  graceful  as  a  pair  of  fire 
tongs  and  I  may  be  dismissed  for  some 
of  the  fancy  steps  I  showed  the  girls, 
but  they  were  happy,  and  far  more  sup 
ple  than  when  we  began. 

When  we  were  breathless  we  hauled 
in  our  old  friend  the  big  hibachi,  with 
a  peck  of  glowing  charcoal  right  in  the 
middle.  We  sat  on  our  folded  feet  and 
made  a  big  circle  all  around,  with  only 
the  glimmer  of  the  coals  for  a  light. 
Then  we  talked. 

Each  girl  had  a  story  to  tell,  either  of 
herself  or  some  one  we  had  known  to 
gether.  Over  many  we  laughed.  For 
others  the  tears  started. 

Warmed  by  companionship  and 
119 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

moved  by  unwonted  freedom,  how  much 
the  usually  reserved  women  revealed 
of  themselves,  their  lives,  their  trials 
and  desires!  But  whatever  the  story, 
the  dominant  note  was  acceptance  of 
what  was,  without  protest.  It  may  be 
fatalism,  Mate,  but  it  is  indisputable 
that  looking  finality  in  the  face  had 
brought  to  all  of  them  a  quietness  of 
spirit  that  no  longing  for  wider  fields 
or  personal  ambition  can  disturb. 

None  of  them  had  known  their  hus 
bands  before  marriage.  Few  had  ever 
seen  them.  Many  were  compelled  to 
live  with  the  difficulties  of  an  exacting 
mother-in-law,  who  had  forgotten  that 
she  was  ever  a  young  wife. 

But  above  it  all  there  was  a  cheerful 
peacefulness ;  a  willingness  of  service 
to  the  husband  and  all  his  demands,  a 
joy  in  children  and  home,  that  was  con 
vincing  as  to  the  depth  and  dignity  of 
120 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

character  which  can  so  efface  itself  for 
the  happiness  of  others. 

One  girl,  Miss  Deserted  Lobster 
Field,  was  missing.  I  asked  about  her 
and  this  is  her  story.  She  was  quite 
pretty;  when  she  left  school  there  was 
no  difficulty  in  marrying  her  off.  Two 
months  afterward  the  young  husband 
left  to  serve  his  time  in  the  army.  For 
some  reason  the  mother-in-law  did  not 
"enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  girl,"  and 
without  consulting  those  most  con 
cerned,  she  divorced  her  son  and  sent 
the  girl  home.  When  the  soldier-hus 
band  returned,  a  new  wife,  whom  he  had 
never  seen,  was  waiting  for  him  at  the 
cottage  door. 

The  sent-home  wife  was  terribly  in 
the  way  in  her  father's  house,  for  by 
law  she  belonged  neither  there  nor  in 
any  other  place.  It  is  difficult  to  re 
marry  these  offcasts.  Something,  how- 
121 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

ever,  bad  to  be  done.  So  dear  fatber 
took  a  stroll  out  into  tbe  village,  and 
being  sonless  adopted  a  young  boy  as 
tbe  bead  of  his  bouse.  A  yoslii  tbis  boy 
is  called.  Fatber  married  tbe  adopted 
son  to  tbe  soldier's  wife  tbat  was,  se 
curely  and  permanently.  A  yosbi  bas 
no  voice  in  any  family  matter  and  is 
powerless  to  get  a  divorce. 

Moral:  If  in  Japan  you  want  to 
make  sure  of  keeping  a  husband  when 
you  get  him,  take  a  boy  to  raise,  then 
marry  him. 

But  the  wedding  of  weddings  is  tbe 
one  which  took  place  last  summer,  by 
suggestion.  Tbe  great  unseen  bas 
lived  in  America  for  two  years.  The 
maid  makes  her  home  in  the  school. 
The  groom-to-be  wrote  to  a  friend  in 
Hiroshima:  "Find  me  a  wife. "  Tbe 
friend  wrote  back:  "Here  she  is." 
Miss  Chestnut  Tree,  the  maid,  fluttered 
122 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

down  to  the  court-house,  had  her  name 
put  on  the  house  register  of  the  far 
away  groom,  did  up  her  hair  as  a  mar 
ried  woman  should  and  went  back  to> 
work. 

To-morrow  she  sails  for  America,  and 
we  are  all  going  down  to  wave  her 
good-by  and  good  luck. 

She  is  married  all  right.  There  will 
be  no  further  ceremony. 

I  would  not  dare  tell  you/  all  the 
stories  they  told  me.  For  I  would 
never  stop  writing  and  you  would  never 
stop  laughing  or  crying. 

The  end  of  all  things  comes  some 
times.  The  beautiful  afternoon  ended 
too  soon.  But  for  thevrest  of  time,  this 
day  will  be  crowned  with  halos  made 
with  the  mightiness  of  the  love  and  the 
dearness  of  the  girls  who  were  once 
my  students,  always  my  friends. 

It  took  some  time  to  assort  the  babies 
123 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

and  make  sure  of  tying  the  right  one 
on  the  right  mother's  back.  Not  by 
one  shaved  head  could  I  see  the  slight 
est  difference  in  any  of  them,  but 
mothers  have  the  knack  of  knowing. 

Out  of  the  big  gate  they  went  and 
down  the  street  all  aglow  with  the  early 
evening  lights  twinkling  in  the  purple 
shadows.  Their  geta  click-clacked 
against  the  hard  street,  to  the  music  of 
their  voices  as  they  called  back  to  me, 
"Oyasumi,  Oyasumi,  Go  kigen  yoro 
shiku"  (Honorably  rest.  Be  happy 
always  to  yourself). 

My  gratitude  to  this  little  country  is 
great,  Mate.  It  has  given  me  much. 
It  was  here  life  taught  me  her  sternest 
lessons.  And  here  I  found  the  heart 's- 
ease  of  Jack's  love.  But  for  nothing 
am  I  more  thankful  than  for  the  love 
and  friendship  of  the  young  girl- 
mothers  who  were  my  pupils,  but  from 
124 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

whom  I  have  learned  more  of  the  sweet 
ness  and  patience  of  life  than  I  could 
ever  teach. 


November,  1911. 

Mate,  there  is  a  man  in  Hiroshima 
for  whom  I  long  and  watch  as  I  do  for 
no  other  inhabitant.  It  is  the  postman. 
You  should  see  him  grin  as  he  trots 
around  the  corner  and  finds  me  waiting 
at  the  gate,  just  as  I  used  to  do  in  the 
old  teaching  days.  I  doubly  blest  him 
this  morning.  Thank  you  for  your  let 
ter.  It  fairly  sings  content.  Homey- 
ness  is  in  every  pen  stroke. 

Please  say  to  your  small  son  David 
that  I  will  give  his  love  to  the  "king's 
little  boy"  if  I  see  him.  My  last 
glimpse  of  him  was  in  Nikko.  Poor 
little  chap.  He  was  permitted  to  walk 
for  a  moment.  In  that  moment  he 
spied  a  bantam  hen,  the  anxious  mother 
125 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

of  half  a  dozen  puff-ball  chickens.  Roy 
alty  knew  no  denial  and  went  in  pur 
suit.  The  bantam  knew  no  royalty, 
pursued  also.  The  four  men  and  six 
women  attendants  were  in  a  panic.  The 
baby  was  rescued  from  a  storm  of 
feathers  and  taken  back  to  the  palace 
with  an  extra  guard  of  three  policemen. 

I  have  been  very  busy,  at  play  and 
at  work.  We  have  just  had  a  wedding 
tea.  My  former  secretary,  Miss  First 
Eiver,  as  she  expressed  it,  " married 
with"  Mr.  East  Village. 

The  wedding  took  place  at  the  ugly 
little  mission  church,  which  was  trans 
formed  into  a  beautiful  garden,  with 
weeping  willows,  chrysanthemums,  and 
mountain  ferns.  Also  we  had  a  wed 
ding-bell.  In  a  wild  moment  of  enthu 
siasm  I  proposed  it.  It  is  always  a 
guess  where  your  enthusiasm  will  land 
you  out  here.  I  coaxed  a  cross  old  tin- 
126 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

ner  to  make  the  frame  for  me.  He  ex 
postulated  the  while  that  the  thing  was 
impossible,  because  it  had  never  been 
done  before  in  this  part  of  the  country. 
It  was  rather  a  weird  shape,  but  I  left 
the  girls  to  trim  it  and  went  to  the 
church  to  help  decorate.  The  bell  was 
to  follow  upon  completion.  It  failed 
to  follow  and  after  waiting  an  hour  or 
so  I  sent  for  it.  The  girls  came  carry 
ing  one  trimmed  bell  and  one  half  cov 
ered.  I  asked,  "Why  are  you  making 
two  wedding-bells  ?"  My  answer  was, 
"Why  Sensei !  must  not  the  groom  have 
one  for  his  head  too?" 

Everybody  wanted  to  do  something 
for  the  little  maid,  for  she  had  so 
bravely  struggled  with  adversity  of 
fortune  and  perversity  of  family.  So 
there  were  four  flower  girls,  and  the 
music  teacher  played  at  the  wedding 
march !  In  spite  of  her  efforts,  Lohen- 
127 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

grin  seemed  suffering  as  it  came  from 
the  complaining  organ. 

Miss  First  River  was  a  lovely 
enough  picture,  in  her  bridal  robes  of 
crepe,  to  cause  the  guests  to  draw  in 
long  breaths  of  admiration,  till  the 
room  sounded  like  the  coming  of  a 
young  cyclone.  They  were  not  accus 
tomed  to  such  prominence  given  a  bride, 
nor  to  weddings  served  in  Western 
style. 

Oh,  yes,  the  groom  was  there,  a  sec 
ondary  consideration  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  Hiroshima,  but  so  in 
love  he  did  not  seem  to  mind  the  ob 
scurity. 

The  ceremony  over,  the  newly-wed 
seated  themselves  on  a  bench  facing  the 
guests.  An  elder  of  the  church  arose 
and  with  a  solemnity  befitting  a  burial, 
read  a  sermon  on  domestic  happiness 
and  some  forty  or  fifty  congratulatory 
128 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

telegrams.  After  an  hour  or  so  of  this 
and  several  speeches,  cake  was  passed 
around,  and  it  was  over.  At  the  maid's 
request  I  gave  her  an  ' '  American  watch 
with  a  good  engine  in  it"  and  my  bless 
ing  with  much  love  in  it,  and  went  hack 
to  work.  Do  not  for  a  minute  imagine 
that  because  I  am  not  a  regularly  or 
dained  missionary-sister,  that  I  am  not 
working.  The  fact  is,  Mate,  the  mis 
sionaries  are  still  afflicted  with  the  work 
habit,  and  so  subtle  is  its  cheerful  in 
fluence,  it  weaves  a  spell  over  all  who 
come  near.  No  matter  what  your 
private  belief  is,  you  roll  up  your 
sleeves  and  pitch  right  in  when  you  see 
them  at  it,  and  you  put  all  your  heart 
in  it  and  thank  the  Lord  for  the  oppor 
tunity  to  help. 

The  fun  begins  at  5 :30  in  the  morn 
ing,  to  the  merry  clang  of  a  brazen  bell, 
and  it  keeps  right  on  till  6  p.  M.    For 
129 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

fear  of  getting  rusty  before  sunrise, 
some  of  the  teachers  have  classes  at 
night.  I  would  rather  have  rest.  I  am 
too  tired,  then,  to  think. 

I  have  put  away  all  my  vanity  clothes. 
No  need  for  them  in  Hiroshima  and  in 
an  icy  room  on  a  winter's  morning,  I 
do  not  stop  to  think  whether  my  dress 
has  an  in-curve  or  an  out-sweep.  I  fall 
into  the  first  thing  I  find  and  finish  but 
toning  it  when  the  family  fire  in  the 
dining-room  is  reached.  A  solitary 
warming-spot  to  a  big  house  is  one  of 
the  luxuries  of  missionary  life. 

In  between  times  I  've  been  cheering 
up  the  home  sickest  young  Swede  that 
ever  got  loose  from  his  native  heath. 
So  firmly  did  he  believe  that  Japan  was 
a  land  where  necessity  for  work  doth 
not  corrupt  nor  the  thief  of  pleasure 
break  through  and  steal,  he  gave  up  a 
130 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

good  position  at  home  and  signed  a 
three-years'  contract  with  an  oil  firm. 
Now  he  is  so  sorry,  all  the  pink  has 
gone  out  of  his  cheeks.  Until  he  grows 
used  to  the  thought  that  living  where 
the  Sun  flag  floats  is  not  a  continuous 
holiday,  the  teachers  here  at  school  take 
turns  in  making  life  livable  for  him. 

His  entertainment  means  tramps  of 
miles  into  the  country,  sails  on  the 
lovely  Ujina  Bay  and  climbs  over  the 
mountains.  In  the  afternoon  the  boy 
is  so  in  evidence,  we  almost  fall  over 
him  if  we  step.  Yesterday  in  desper 
ation  I  tied  an  apron  on  him  and  let 
him  help  me  make  a  cake.  Even  at 
that,  with  a  dab  of  chocolate  on  his 
cheek  and  flour  on  his  nose,  his  summer 
sky  eyes  were  weepy  whenever  he  spoke 
of  his  "Mutter."  I  have  done  every 
thing  for  him  except  lend  him  my  shoul- 
131 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

der  to  weep  on.  It  may  come  to  that. 
There  is  hope,  however.  One  of  our 
teachers  is  young  and  pretty. 

Jack,  in  a  much  delayed  epistle,  tells 
me  thrilling  and  awful  things  about  the 
plague;  says  he  walks  through  what 
was  once  a  prosperous  village,  and  now 
there  is  not  a  live  dog  to  wag  a  friendly 
tail.  Every  house  and  hovel  tenant- 
less.  Often  unfinished  meals  on  the 
table  and  beds  just  as  the  occupants  left 
them.  A  great  pit  near  by  full  of  ashes 
and  bones  tells  the  story  of  the  plague 
come  to  town,  leaving  silent,  empty 
houses,  and  the  dust-laden  winds  as  the 
only  mourners. 

The  native  doctors  gave  a  splendid 
banquet  the  other  night.  With  the  vis 
iting  doctors  in  full  array  of  evening 
dress  and  decorations,  Jack  says  it 
looked  like  a  big  international  flag 
132 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

•draped  around  the  table.  Everybody 
made  a  speech  and  Jack  has  not  stopped 
yet  shooting  off  fireworks  in  honor  of 
that  Englishwoman. 

Well,  maybe  I  should  have  studied 
science.  It  is  too  late  now.  Besides,  I 
have  Uncle  on  my  hands,  and  I  have  to 
commit  to  memory  pages  on  color 
printing  that  run  like  this:  "Fine  as 
a  single  hair  or  swelling  imperceptibly 
till  it  becomes  a  broken  play  of  light 
and  shade  or  a  mass  of  solid  black,  it 
still  flows,  unworried  and  without  hesi 
tation  on  its  appointed  course." 

Sada  San  is  coming  down  next  week. 
I  am  looking  forward  to  it  with  great 
delight  and  hunting  for  a  plan  whereby 
I  can  help  her. 

Suppose  Uncle  should  give  me  a  glad 
surprise  and  come  too ! 

133 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

HIROSHIMA. 
My  dear  Best  Girl: 

If  ever  a  sailor  needed  a  compass,  I 
need  the  level  head  that  tops  your  lov 
ing  heart.  I  am  worried  hollow-eyed 
and  as  useless  as  a  brass  turtle. 

It  has  been  days  since  I  heard  from 
Jack.  "When  he  last  wrote,,  he  was  go 
ing  to  some  remote  district  out  from 
Mukden.  I  dare  not  think  what  might 
happen  to  him.  Says  he  must  travel 
to  the  very  source  of  the  trouble. 

If  Jack  really  wanted  trouble  he 
could  find  it  nearer  home.  Is  n't  it  like 
him,  though,  with  his  German  educa 
tion,  to  hunt  a  thing  to  its  lair !  I  sup 
pose  when  next  I  hear  from  him,  he  will 
have  disappeared  into  some  marmot 
hole  at  the  foot  of  a  tree  in  a  Siberian 
forest. 

Sada  is  here.     A  pale  shadow  of  her 
former  radiant  self.     She  is  in  deadly 
134 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

fear  of  what  Uncle  has  written  he  ex 
pects  of  her  when  she  returns. 

For  the  first  few  days  of  her  visit, 
she  was  like  an  escaped  prisoner.  She 
played  and  sang  with  the  girls.  The 
joy  of  her  laughter  was  contagious. 
Everybody  fell  a  victim  to  her  gaiety. 
We  have  been  on  picnics  up  the  river 
in  a  sampan  where  we  waded  and 
fished,  then  landed  on  an  island  of  bam 
boo  and  fern  and  cooked  our  dinner 
over  a  hibachi.  We  have  had  concerts, 
tableaux  and  charades,  here  at  the 
school,  with  a  big  table  for  the  stage 
and  a  silver  moon  and  a  green  mos 
quito-net  for  the  scenery. 

In  every  pastime  or  pleasure,  Sada 
San  has  been  the  moving  spirit.  Ador 
ably  girlish  and  winning  in  her  inno 
cent  joy,  I  grow  faint  to  think  of  the 
rude  awakening. 

She  has  talked  much  of  Miss  West 
135 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

and  their  life  together;  their  work  and 
simple  pleasures. 

To  the  older  woman  she  poured  out 
unmeasured  affection,  fresh  and  sweet. 
Susan  made  a  flower  garden  of  the 
girl's  heart,  where,  if  even  a  tiny  weed 
sprouted  it  was  coaxed  into  a  blossom. 
But  she  gave  no  warning  of  the  savage 
storms  that  might  come  and  lay  the  gar 
den  waste. 

Well,  I  'm  holding  a  prayer-meeting 
a  minute  that  the  rosy  ideals  of  the 
visionary  teacher  will  hold  fast  when 
the  wind  begins  to  blow. 

I  found  Sada  one  day  on  the  bed,  a 
crumpled  heap  of  woe ;  white  and  shak 
ing  with  tearless  sobs.  Anxious  to 
shield  her  from  the  persistent  friendli 
ness  of  the  girls,  I  persuaded  her  to 
come  with  me  to  the  old  Prince's  gar 
den,  just  back  of  the  school. 

She  had  heard  from  Uncle.  For  the 
136 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

first  time  be  definitely  stated  his  plans. 
Hara,  the  rich  man,  had  sent  to  him  a 
proposal  of  marriage  for  Sada!  Of 
course,  said  Uncle,  such  an  offer  from 
so  prosperous  and  prominent  a  man 
must  he  accepted  without  hesitation. 
It  was  wonderful  luck  for  any  girl,  said 
dear  Mura,  especially  one  of  her  birth. 
Nothing  further  would  be  done  until 
she  returned,  and  he  wished  that  to  be 
at  once. 

Not  a  suggestion  of  feeling  or  senti 
ment;  not  a  word  as  to  Sada's  wishes 
or  rights.  If  these  were  mentioned  to 
him,  he  would  undoubtedly  reply  that 
the  rights  in  the  matter  were  all  his. 
As  to  feelings,  a  young  girl  had  no  busi 
ness  with  such  things.  His  voice  would 
be  courteous,  his  manner  of  saying  it 
would  fairly  puncture  the  air. 

His  letter  was  simply  a  cold  business 
statement  for  the  sale  of  the  girl. 
137 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

When  I  looked  at  the  misery  in  her 
young  eyes,  I  could  joyfully  have 
throttled  him  and  stamped  upon  him. 
I  wished  for  a  dentist's  grinding  ma 
chine  and  the  chance  to  bore  a  nice  big 
hole  into  each  one  of  his  white,  even 
teeth. 

She  knows  nothing  of  the  man  Hara 
except  that  he  is  coarse  and  drinks 
heavily.  The  girls  in  the  tea-house  al 
ways  seemed  afraid  when  he  came. 
Vague  whispers  of  his  awful  life  had 
come  to  her.  What  was  she  to  do? 
She  had  no  money,  no  place  to  go,  and 
Uncle  was  the  only  relative  she  had  in 
the  world. 

Mate,  I  heard  a  missionary  speak  a 
profound  truth,  when  he  said  that  no 
Japanese  would  ever  be  worth  while 
till  all  his  relatives  were  dead.  Their 
power  is  a  chain  forged  around  indi 
vidual  freedom. 

138 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

She  had  such  loving  thoughts  of 
Uncle,  Sada  sobbed,  before  she  came. 
She  longed  to  make  his  home  happy 
and  be  one  of  his  people.  She  loved 
the  beautiful  country  of  her  mother 
and  craved  its  friendship. 

Miss  West  had  drilled  it  into  her  con 
science  that  marriage  was  holy,  and  im 
possible  without  love.  (Bless  you, 
Susan!)  She  wanted  to  do  her  duty, 
but  she  could  not  marry  this  man  whom 
she  had  never  seen  but  once,  and  had 
never  spoken  to. 

She  knew  the  absolute  power  the  law 
of  the  land  gave  Uncle  over  her.  She 
knew  the  uselessness  of  a  Japanese  girl 
struggling  against  the  rigid  rules  laid 
down  by  her  elders.  She  knew  resist 
ance  might  bring  punishment.  Well, 
Mate,  I  do  not  care  ever  to  see  again 
such  a  look  as  was  in  Sada's  eyes  as  she 
turned  her  set  face  to  me  and  forced 
139 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

through  her  stiff  lips  a  stony,  "I 
won 't ! ' '  But  I  thanked  God  for  all  the 
Susan  Wests  and  their  teachings. 

In  spite  of  the  girl's  unhappiness, 
there  was  a  thrill  in  the  region  of  my 
heart.  Of  her  own  free  will  Sada  San 
had  decided.  Now  there  was  some 
thing  definite  to  work  upon.  In  the 
back  of  my  brain  a  plan  was  beginning 
to  form.  Hope  glimmered  like  a  Jack- 
o  '-lantern. 

It  was  late  evening.  A  flaming  sun 
set  flushed  the  sky  and  bathed  the  an 
cient  garden  of  arched  bridges  and 
twisted  trees  in  a  pinkish  haze.  The 
very  shadows  spelled  romance  and 
poetry.  It  was  wise  to  use  the  charm 
of  the  hour  for  the  beginning  of  my 
plan. 

I  drew  Sada  down  beside  me,  as  w& 
sat  in  a  queer  little  play-house  by  the 
garden  lake. 

140 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

In  olden  times  it  bad  been  tbe  rest 
place  of  tbe  Prince  Asano,  wben  be  was 
specially  moved  to  write  poetry  to  tbe 
moon  as  it  floated  up,  a  silver  ball  in  a 
navy-blue  sky  over  "Three  Umbrella 
Mountain/'  Had  bis  ghost  been  stroll 
ing  along  then,  it  would  have  found 
deeper  things  than,  "in  the  sadness 
of  the  moon  night  beholds  the  fading 
blossom  of  the  heart, "  to  fill  his 
thoughts. 

I  led  the  girl  to  tell  me  much  of  her 
life  in  Nebraska;  of  her  friends  and 
their  amusements.  Hers  had  been  the 
usual  story  of  any  fresh  wholesome 
girl.  The  social  life  in  a  small  town 
had  limited  her  experiences,  but  had 
kept  her  deliciously  naive  and  sweet. 

For  the  first  time  in  our  talks,  she 

avoided  Billy's  name.     I  hailed  it  as  a 

beautiful  sign.    I  mentioned  William 

myself    and    delighted    in    her    red- 

141 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

cheeked  confusion.  I  gently  asked  her 
to  tell  me  of  him. 

She  and  Billy  had  gone  to  school  to 
gether,  played  together  and  he  always 
seemed  like  a  big  brother  to  her.  Once 
a  boy  had  called  her  a  half-breed  and 
Billy  promptly  knocked  him  down  and 
sat  on  his  head  while  he  manipulated 
a  shingle. 

Another  time  when  they  were  quite 
small,  the  desire  of  her  heart  was  to 
ride  on  the  tricycle  of  a  rich  little  boy 
who  lived  across  the  street.  But  the 
pampered  youth  jeered  at  her  plead 
ings  and  exultingly  rode  up  and  down 
before  her.  Billy  saw  and  bided  his 
time  till  the  small  Croesus  was  alone. 
He  nabbed  him,  chucked  him  in  a 
chicken-coop  and  stood  guard  for  an 
hour  while  Sada  rode  gloriously. 

Through  college  they  were  comrades 
and  rivals.  Billy  had  to  work  his  way, 
142 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

for  lie  was  the  poor  son  of  an  invalid 
mother.  From  college  he  had  gone 
straight  to  a  firm  of  rich  manufactur 
ers  and  was  now  one  of  the  big  buyers. 

He  had  pleaded  with  her  not  to  come 
to  Japan.  He  loved  her.  He  wanted 
her.  When  she  had  persisted,  he  was 
furious  and  they  had  quarreled.  But 
she  had  thought  she  was  right,  then; 
she  did  not  know  how  dear  Billy  was, 
how  big  and  splendid.  She  had  writ 
ten  to  him  but  seldom,  nothing  of  her 
disappointment.  Maybe  he  had  mar 
ried.  She  could  not  write  now.  It 
would  be  too  much  like  begging,  when 
she  was  at  bay,  for  the  love  she  had  re 
fused  when  all  was  well.  No,  she  could 
not  tell  him. 

We  talked  long  and  earnestly  in  that 

old  garden,  and  the  wind  that  sifted 

through  the  pine-needles  and  the  waxy 

leaves  was  as  gentle  as  if  the  spirit  of 

143 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

Susan  West  had  come  to  watch  and  to 
bless. 

I  gained  a  half  promise  from  her  that 
she  would  write  to  Billy  at  once,  but  I 
did  n  't  stop  there. 

Unsuspected  by  Sada  I  learned  his 
full  address,  and  Mate,  I  wrote  a  letter 
to  the  auburn-haired  lover  in  Nebraska, 
in  which  I  painted  a  picture  that  is  go 
ing  to  cause  something  to  happen,  else 
I  am  mistaken  in  my  estimate  of  the 
spirit  of  the  West  in  general  and  Wil 
liam  Weston  Milton  in  particular. 

I  told  him  if  he  loved  the  girl  to  come 
as  fast  as  steam  would  bring  him ;  that 
I  would  help  him  at  the  risk  of  any 
thing,  though  I  have  no  idea  how.  I 
have  just  returned  from  a  solitary 
promenade  to  the  post-office  through 
the  dark  and  lonely  streets,  so  that  let 
ter  will  catch  to-morrow's  American 
mail. 

144 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

Sada  told  me  that  for  some  reason 
she  had  never  mentioned  Billy's  name 
to  Uncle.  Now  isn't  that  a  full  hand 
nestling  up  my  half-sleeve  I  Uncle 
thinks  the  way  clear  as  an  empty  race 
track,  and  all  he  has  to  do  is  to  saunter 
down  the  home  stretch  and  gather  in 
the  prize-money. 

Any  scruple  on  the  girl's  part  will  be 
relentlessly  and  carelessly  brushed 
aside  as  a  bothersome  insect.  If  she 
persists,  there  is  always  force.  He 
fears  nothing  from  me.  I  am  a  for 
eigner — from  his  standpoint  too 
crudely  frank  to  be  clever. 

He  doubtless  argues,  if  he  gives  it 
any  thought,  that  if  I  could  I  would  not 
dare  interfere.  And  then  I  am  so  ab 
sorbed  in  color-prints!  So  I  am,  and, 
I  pray  Heaven,  in  some  way  to  his  un 
doing.  The  child  has  no  other  friend. 
Shrinkingly  she  told  me  of  her  one  at- 
145 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

tempt  to  make  friends  with  some  high- 
class  people,  and  the  uncompromising 
rebuff  she  had  received  upon  their  dis 
covering  she  was  an  Eurasian.  The 
pure  aristocrats  seldom  lower  the  social 
bars  to  those  of  mixed  blood.  I  won 
der,  Mate,  if  the  ghost  of  failure,  who 
was  her  father,  could  see  the  inherit 
ance  of  inevitable  suffering  he  has  left 
his  child,  what  his  message  would  be  to 
those  who  would  recklessly  dare  a  like 
marriage! 

Sada  goes  to  Kioto  in  the  morning. 
She  promises  not  to  show  resistance, 
but  to  keep  quiet  and  alert,  writing  me 
at  every  opportunity. 

I  am  sure  Uncle's  delight  in  securing 
so  rich  a  prize  as  Hara  will  burst  forth 
in  a  big  wedding-feast  and  many  rich 
clothes  for  the  trousseau.  I  hope  so. 
Preparation  will  take  time.  I  would 
rather  gain  time  than  treasure. 
146 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

I  put  Sada  to  bed.  Tucked  her  in 
and  cuddled  her  to  sleep  as  if  she  had 
been  my  own  daughter. 

There  she  lies  now.  Her  face  start- 
lingly  white  against  the  mass  of  black 
hair.  The  only  sign  of  her  troubled 
day  is  a  frequent  half-sob  and  the  sad 
ness  of  her  mouth,  which  is  constantly 
reading  the  riot  act  to  her  laughing 
eyes  in  the  waking  hours. 

Poor  girl !  She  is  only  one  of  many 
whose  hopes  wither  like  rose-leaves  in 
a  hot  sun  when  met  by  authority  in  the 
form  of  tyrannical  relatives. 

The  arched  sky  over  the  mountain  of 
"Two  Leaves"  is  all  a-shimmer  with 
the  coming  day.  Thatched  roof  and 
bamboo  grove  are  daintily  etched 
against  the  amber  dawn.  Lights  begin 
to  twinkle  and  thrifty  tradesmen  cheer 
fully  call  their  wares. 

It  is  a  land  of  peace,  a  country  and 
147 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

people  of  wondrous  charm;  but  incom 
prehensible  is  the  spirit  of  some  of  the 
laws  that  rule  its  daughters. 

Mate  dear: 

One  of  my  girls,  when  attacked  with 
the  blues,  invariably  says  in  her  writ 
ten  apology  for  a  poor  lesson,  "Please 
excuse  my  frivolous  with  your  im 
agination,  for  my  heart  is  warmly. " 
So  say  I. 

I  am  sending  you  the  crepes  and  the 
kimono  you  asked  for.  Write  for 
something  else.  I  want  an  excuse  to 
spend  another  afternoon  in  the  two-by- 
four  shop,  with  a  play-garden  attached, 
that  should  be  under  a  glass  case  in  a 
jewelry  store.  The  proprietor  gives 
me  a  tea-party  and  tells  me  a  few  of 
his  troubles  every  time  I  go  to  his  store. 
Formerly  he  kept  two  shops  exclu 
sively  for  hair  ornaments  and  ribbons. 
148 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

He  did  a  thriving  trade  with  school- 
girls.  Recently  an  order  went  out 
from  the  mighty  maker  of  school  laws 
to  the  effect  that  lassies,  high  and  low, 
must  not  indulge  in  such  foolish  ex 
travagances  as  head  ornaments.  The 
ribbon  market  went  to  smash.  The  old 
man  could  not  give  his  stock  away.  He 
stored  his  goods  and  went  to  selling 
high-priced  crepes,  which  everybody 
was  permitted  to  wear.  Make  another 
request  quickly.  I  would  rather  shop 
than  think. 

Also,  if  you  need  any  information  as 
to  how  to  run  a  cooking-school,  I  will 
enclose  it  with  the  next  package. 

Since  the  war,  scores  of  Japanese 
women  are  wild  to  learn  foreign  cook 
ing.  On  inquiry  as  to  the  reason  of 
such  enthusiasm,  we  found  it  was  be 
cause  their  husbands,  while  away  from 
home,  had  acquired  a  taste  for  Occi- 
149 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

dental  dainties.  Now  their  wives  want 
to  know  all  about  them  so  they  can  set 
up  opposition  in  their  homes  to  the 
many  tea-houses  which  offer  European 
food  as  an  extra  attraction.  And  de 
pend  upon  it,  if  the  women  start  to 
learn,  they  stick  to  it  till  there  is  noth 
ing  more  to  know  on  the  subject. 

I  was  to  furnish  the  knowledge  and 
the  ladies  the  necessary  utensils,  but  I 
guess  I  forgot  to  mention  everything 
we  might  need. 

The  first  thing  we  tried  was  biscuit. 
All  went  well  until  the  time  came  for 
baking.  I  asked  for  a  pan.  A  pan? 
What  kind  of  a  pan?  Would  a  wash 
pan  do!  No,  if  it  was  all  the  same  I 
would  rather  have  a  flat  pan  with  a  rim. 
Certainly !  Here  it  was  with  a  rim  and 
a  handle!  A  shiny  dust-pan  greeted 
my  eyes.  Well,  there  was  not  very 
150 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

much  difference  in  the  taste  of  the  bis 
cuit. 

The  prize  accomplishment  so  far 
lias  been  pies.  Our  skill  has  not  only 
brought  us  fame,  but  the  city  is 
in  the  throes  of  a  pie  epidemic.  A 
few  days  ago  when  the  old  Prince 
of  the  Ken  came  to  visit  his  Hiro 
shima  home,  the  cooking-ladies,  af 
ter  a  few  days'  consultation,  decided 
that  in  no  better  way  could  royalty  be 
welcomed  than  by  sending  him  a  lemon 
pie.  They  sent  two  creamy  affairs 
elaborately  decorated  with  meringued 
Fujis.  They  were  the  hit  of  the  sea 
son.  The  old  gentleman  wrote  a  poem 
about  them  saying  he  ate  one  and  was 
keeping  the  other  to  take  back  to  his 
country  home  when  he  returned  a 
month  hence.  Then  he  sent  us  all  a 
present. 

151 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

We  have  had  only  one  catastrophe. 
In  a  moment  of  reckless  adventure  my 
pupils  tried  a  pound  cake  without  a 
recipe.  A  pound  cake  can  be  nothing 
else  but  what  it  says.  That  meant  a 
pound  of  everything  and  Japanese  soda 
is  doubly  strong.  That  was  a  week 
ago  and  we  have  not  been  able  to  stay 
in  the  room  since. 

Good-by!  The  tailless  pink  cat  and 
the  purple  fish  with  the  pale  blue  eyes 
are  for  the  kiddies. 

I  am  inclosing  an  original  recipe  sent 
in  by  Miss  Turtle  Swamp  of  Clear 
Water  Village : 

Cake. 

1  cup  of  Desecrated  coconut 

5  cup  flowers 

1  small  spoon  and  barmilla  [vanilla] 

3  eggs  skinned  and  whipped 

1  cup  sugar 

Stir  and  pat  in  pan  to  cook. 


152 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

HIROSHIMA,  December,  1911. 
Mate: 

I  would  be  ashamed  to  tell  you  how 
long  it  is  between  Jack's  letters.  He 
says  the  activity  of  the  revolutionists 
in  China  is  seriously  interfering  with 
traffic  of  every  kind.  All  right,  let  it  go 
at  that !  Now  he  has  gone  way  up  north 
of  Harbin.  In  the  name  of  anything 
wliy  cannot  he  be  satisfied?  England 
is  with  him.  I  do  not  know  who  also  is 
in  the  party.  Neither  do  I  care.  I  do 
not  like  it  a  little  bit.  Jealous?  The 
idea.  Just  plain  furious.  I  am  no 
more  afraid  of  Jack  falling  in  love  with 
another  woman  than  I  am  of  Saturn 
making  Venus  a  birthday  present  of 
one  of  his  rings.  The  trouble  is  she 
may  fall  in  love  with  him,  and  it  is  al 
together  unnecessary  for  any  other 
woman  to  get  her  feelings  disturbed 
over  Jack. 

153 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

I  fail  to  see  the  force  of  his  argu 
ment  that  it  is  not  safe  nor  wise  for 
any  woman  in  that  country,  and  yet  for 
him  to  show  wild  enthusiasm  over  the 
presence  of  the  Britisher.  No,  Jack 
has  lost  his  head  over  intellect.  It  may 
take  a  good  sharp  hlow  for  him  to  re 
alize  that  intellect,  pure  and  simple,  is 
an  icy  substitute  for  love.  Like  most 
men  he  is  so  deadly  sure  of  one,  he  is 
taking  a  holiday  with  the  other. 

Of  course  you  are  laughing  at  me. 
So  would  Jack.  And  both  would  say  it 
is  unworthy.  That  's  just  it.  It  is  the 
measly  little  unworthies  that  nag  one 
to  desperation.  Besides,  Mate,  I  shrink 
from  any  more  trouble,  any  more 
heart-aches  as  I  would  from  flames. 
The  terror  of  the  by-gone  years  creeps 
over  me  and  covers  the  present  like  a 
pall. 

There  is  only  one  thing  left  to  do. 
154 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

Work.  •  Work  and  dig,  till  there  is  not 
an  ounce  of  strength  left  for  worry.  I 
stay  in  the  kindergarten  every  avail 
able  minute.  The  unstinted  friendship 
of  the  kiddies  over  there,  is  the  heart's- 
«ase  for  so  many  of  life's  hurts. 

There  are  always  the  long  walks, 
when  healing  and  uplift  of  spirit  can 
be  found  in  the  beauty  of  the  country. 
I  tramp  away  all  alone.  The  little 
Swede  begs  often  to  go.  At  first  I 
rather  enjoyed  him.  But  he  is  growing 
far  too  affectionate.  I  am  not  equal  to 
caring  for  two  young  things;  a  broken 
hearted  girl  and  a  homesick  fat  boy  are 
too  much  for  me.  He  is  improving  so 
rapidly  I  think  it  better  for  him  to  talk 
love  stories  and  poetry  to  some  one 
more  appreciative.  I  am  not  in  a  very 
poetical  mood.  He  might  just  as  well 
talk  to  the  pretty  young  teacher  as 
to  talk  about  her  all  the  time. 
155 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

I  have  scores  of  friends  up  and  down 
the  many  country  roads  I  travel.  The 
boatmen  on  the  silvery  river,  who  al 
ways  wave  their  head  rags  in  salute, 
the  women  hoeing  in  the  fields  with 
babies  on  their  backs,  stop  long  enough 
to  say  good  day  and  good  luck.  The 
laughing  red-cheeked  coolie  girls  pause 
in  their  work  of  driving  piles  for  the 
new  bridge  to  have  a  little  talk  about 
the  wonders  of  a  foreigner's  head. 
With  bated  breath  they  watch  while  I 
give  them  proof  that  my  long  hatpins 
do  not  go  straight  through  my  skull. 

The  sunny  greetings  of  multitudes 
of  children  lift  the  shadows  from  the 
darkest  day,  and  always  there  is  the 
glorious  scenery;  the  shadowed  mys 
tery  of  the  mountains,  a  turquoise  sky, 
the  blossoms  and  bamboo.  The  brood 
ing  spirit  of  serenity  soon  envelops  me, 
156 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

and  in  its  irresistible  charm  is  found  a 
tender  peace. 

On  my  way  home,  in  the  river  close 
to  shore,  is  a  crazy  little  tea-house.  It 
is  furnished  with  three  mats  and  a 
paper  lantern.  The  pretty  hostess, 
fresh  and  sweet  from  her  out-of-door 
life,  brings  me  rice,  tea  and  fresh  eel. 
She  serves  it  with  such  gracious  hos 
pitality  it  makes  my  heart  warm. 
While  I  eat,  she  tells  me  stories  of  the 
river  life.  I  am  learning  about  the  so 
cial  life  of  families  of  fish  and  their 
numerous  relatives  that  sport  in  the 
"Thing  of  Substance  River";  the 
habits  of  the  red-headed  wild  ducks 
which  nest  near;  of  the  god  and  god 
desses  who  rule  the  river  life,  the 
pranks  they  play,  the  revenge  they 
take.  And,  too,  I  am  learning  a  lesson 
in  patience  through  the  lives  of  the 
157 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

humble  fishermen.  In  season  seven 
cents  a  day  is  the  total  of  their  earn 
ings.  At  other  times,  two  cents  is  the 
limit.  On  this  they  manage  to  live  and 
laugh  and  raise  a  family.  It  is  all  so 
simple  and  childlike,  so  free  from  pre 
tension,  hurry  and  rush.  Sometimes  I 
wonder  if  it  is  not  we,  with  our  myriad 
interests,  who  have  strayed  from  the 
real  things  of  life. 

On  my  road  homeward,  too,  there  is 
a  crudely  carved  Buddha.  He  is  so  al 
together  hideous,  they  have  put  him  in 
a  cage  of  wooden  slats.  On  certain 
days  it  is  quite  possible  to  try  your 
fortune,  by  buying  a  paper  prayer 
from  the  priest  at  the  temple,  chewing 
it  up  and  throwing  it  through  the  cage 
at  the  image.  If  it  sticks  you  will  be 
lucky. 

My  aim  was  not  straight  or  luck  was 
against  me  to-day.  My  prayers  are  all 
158 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

on  the  floor  at  the  feet  of  the  grinning 
Buddha. 

Jack  is  in  Siberia  and  Uncle  has 
Sada.  I  have  not  heard  from  her  since 
she  left.  I  am  growing  truly  anxious. 


January,  1912. 

Dearest  Mate: 

At  last  I  have  a  letter  from  Jack. 
Strange  to  say  I  am  about  as  full  of 
enthusiasm  over  the  news  he  gives  me 
as  a  thorn-tree  is  of  pond-lilies. 

He  says  he  has  something  like  a  ton 
of  notes  and  things  on  the  various 
stunts  of  the  bubonic  germ  in  Man 
churia  when  it  is  feeling  fit  and  spry. 
But  he  is  seized  with  a  conviction  that 
he  must  go  somewhere  in  northwest 
China  where  he  thinks  there  is  happy 
hunting-ground  of  evidence  which  will 
verify  his  report  to  the  Government. 
159 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

Suppose  the  next  thing  I  hear  lie  will 
be  chasing  around  the  outer  rim  of  the 
old  world  hunting  for  somebody  to 
verify  the  Government. 

There  is  absolutely  no  use  of  my  try 
ing  to  say  the  name  of  the  place  he  has 
started  for.  Even  when  written  it 
looks  too  wicked  to  pronounce.  It  is 
near  the  Pass  that  leads  into  the  Gobi 
Desert. 

Jack  wrote  me  to  go  to  Shanghai  and 
he  would  join  me  later.  I  am  writing 
him  that  I  can't  start  till  the  fate  of 
Sada  San  is  settled  for  better  or  for 
worse. 

NARROW,  CHINA.    February,  1912. 
Mate: 

News    of    Jack's    desperate    illness 

came  to  me  ten  days  ago  and  has  laid 

waste   my   heart  as   the   desert   wind 

blasts  life.    I  have  been  flying  to  him  as 

160 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

fast  as  boat  and  train  and  cart  will 
take  me. 

The  second  wire  reached  me  in  Pe 
king  last  night.  Jack  has  typhus  fever 
and  the  disease  is  nearing  the  crisis. 
I  have  read  the  message  over  and  over, 
trying  to  read  between  the  lines  some 
faint  glimmer  of  hope ;  but  I  can  get  no 
comfort  from  the  noncommittal  words 
except  the  fact  that  Jack  is  still  alive. 
I  am  on  my  way  to  the  terminus  of  the 
railroad,  from  where  the  message  was 
sent.  I  came  this  far  by  train,  only  to 
find  all  regular  traffic  stopped  by  order 
of  the  Government.  The  line  may  be 
needed  for  the  escape  of  the  Imperial 
Family  from  Peking  if  the  Palace  is 
threatened  by  the  revolutionists. 

Orders  had  been  given  that  no  for 
eigner  should  leave  the  Legation  en 
closure.  I  bribed  the  room  boy  to  slip 
me  through  the  side  streets  and  dark 
161 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

alleys  to  an  outside  station.  I  must  go 
the  rest  of  the  distance  by  cart  when 
the  road  is  possible,  by  camel  or  don 
key  when  not.  Nothing  seems  possible 
now.  Everything  within  sight  looks 
as  if  it  had  been  dead  for  centuries,  and 
the  people  walking  around  have  just 
forgotten  to  be  buried. 

I  am  wild  with  impatience  to  be  gone 
but  neither  bribes  nor  threats  will  hurry 
the  coolies  who  take  their  time  harness 
ing  the  donkeys  and  the  camels. 

A  ring  of  ossified  men,  women  and 
children  have  formed  about  me,  staring 
with  unblinking  eyes,  till  I  feel  as  if  I 
was  full  of  peep  holes.  It  is  not  life, 
for  neither  youth  nor  love  nor  sorrow 
has  ever  passed  this  way.  The  tiniest 
emotion  would  shrivel  if  it  dared  begin 
to  live.  Maybe  they  are  better  so.  But 
then,  they  have  never  known  Jack. 

How  true  it  is  that  one  big  heart-ache 
162 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

withers  up  all  the  little  ones  and  the 
joy  of  years  as  well.  With  this  terror 
upon  me,  even  Sada 's  desperate  trouble 
has  faded  and  grown  pale  as  the  mem 
ory  of  a  dream.  Jack  is  ill  and  I  must 
get  to  him,  though  my  body  is  racked 
with  the  rough  travel,  and  the  ancient 
road  holds  the  end  of  love  and  life  for 
me. 

Around  the  sad  old  world  I  am 
stretching  out  my  arms  to  you,  Mate, 
for  the  courage  to  face  whatever  comes, 
and  your  love  which  has  never  failed 
me. 

KALGAN. 

Such  wild  unbelievable  things  have 
happened ! 

After  twenty  miles  of  intolerable 
shaking  on  the  back  of  a  camel,  my  bat 
tered  body  fell  off  at  the  last  stopping- 
place,  which  happened  to  be  here. 
There  is  no  hotel.  But  three  blessed 
163 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

European  boys  living  at  this  place — 
agents  for  a  big  tobacco  firm — took  me 
into  their  little  home.  From  that  time 
— ten  days  ago — till  now,  they  have 
served  and  cared  for  me  as  only  sons 
who  have  not  forgotten  their  mothers 
could  do. 

On  that  awful  night  I  came,  while 
forcing  food  on  me,  they  said  that  Jack 
had  stopped  with  them  on  his  way  out 
to  the  desert,  where  he  was  to  complete 
his  work  for  the  Government.  He  was 
to  go  part  of  the  distance  with  the  Eng 
lish  woman,  who,  with  her  camels  and 
her  guides,  was  traveling  to  the  Si 
berian  railroad.  The  next  day  they 
heard  the  whole  caravan  had  returned. 
Four  days  out  Jack  had  been  taken  ill. 
The  only  available  shelter  was  an  old 
monastery  about  a  mile  from  the  vil 
lage.  To  this  he  had  been  moved.  My 
hosts  opened  a  window  and  pointed  to 
164 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

a  far-away,  high-up  light.  It  was  like 
the  flicker  of  a  match  in  a  vast  cave  of 
darkness.  They  told  me  wonderful 
things  of  the  rooms  in  the  monastery, 
which  were  cut  in  the  solid  rock  of  the 
mountain-side,  and  the  strange  dwarf 
priest  who  kept  it. 

They  lied  beautifully  and  cheerfully 
as  to  Jack's  condition,  and  all  the  time 
in  their  hearts  they  knew  that  he  had 
the  barest  chance  to  live  through  the 
night. 

The  woman  doctor  had  nursed  him 
straight  through,  permitting  no  one  else 
near.  The  dwarf  priest  brought  her 
supplies. 

Her  last  message  for  the  day  had 
been,  "The  crisis  will  soon  be  passed/' 

Even  now  something  grips  my  throat 

when  I  remember  how  those  dear  boys 

worked  to  divert  me,  until  my  strength 

revived.     They   rigged  up  a  battered 

165 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

steamer-chair  with  furs  and  bath 
robes,  put  me  in  it,  promising  that  as 
soon  as  I  was  rested  they  would  see 
what  could  be  done  to  get  me  up  to  the 
monastery.  But  I  was  not  to  worry. 
All  of  them  set  about  seeing  I  had  no 
time  to  think.  Each  took  his  turn  in 
telling  me  marvelous  tales  of  the  life  in 
that  wild  country.  One  boy  brought 
in  the  new  litter  of  puppies,  begging 
me  to  carefully  choose  a  name  for  each. 
The  two  ponies  were  trotted  out  and 
put  through  their  pranks  before  the 
door  in  the  half  light  of  a  dim  lantern. 
They  showed  me  the  treasures  of 
their  bachelor  life,  the  family  photo 
graphs  and  the  various  little  nothings 
which  link  isolated  lives  to  home  and 
love.  They  even  assured  me  they  had 
had  tlie  table-cloth  and  napkins  washed 
for  my  coming.  Household  interests 
exhausted,  they  began  to  talk  of  boy- 
166 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

hood  days.  Their  quiet  voices  soothed 
me.  From  exhaustion  I  slept.  When 
I  woke,  my  watch  said  one  o'clock. 
The  house  was  heavy  with  sleeping 
stillness. 

Through  my  window,  far  away  the 
dim  light  wavered.  It  seemed  to  be 
signaling  me.  My  decision  was  quick. 
I  would  go,  and  alone.  If  I  called,  my 
hosts  would  try  to  dissuade  me,  and  I 
would  not  listen.  For  life  or  for 
death,  I  was  going  to  Jack.  The  very 
thought  lent  me  strength  and  gave  my 
feet  cunning  stealthiness.  A  high  wall 
was  around  the  house  but,  thank 
Heaven,  they  had  forgotten  to  lock  the 
gate. 

Soon  I  was  in  the  deserted,  deep- 
rutted  street  shut  in  on  either  side  by 
mud  hovels,  low  and  crouching  close 
together  in  their  pitiful  poverty. 
There  was  nothing  to  guide  me,  save 
167 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

that  distant  speck  of  flame.  Further 
on,  I  heard  the  rush  of  water  and  made 
out  the  dim  line  of  an  ancient  bridge. 
Half  way  across  I  stumbled.  From 
the  heap  of  rags  my  foot  had  struck, 
came  moans,  and,  by  the  sound  of  it, 
awful  curses.  It  was  a  handless  leper. 
I  saw  the  stumps  as  they  flew  at  me. 
Sick  with  horror,  I  fled  and  found  an 
open  place. 

The  light  still  beckoned.  The  way 
was  heavy  with  high,  drifted  sand. 
The  courage  of  despair  goaded  me  to 
the  utmost  effort.  Forced  to  pause 
for  breath,  I  found  and  leaned  against 
a  post.  It  was  a  telegraph  pole.  In 
all  the  blackness  and  immeasurable 
loneliness,  it  was  the  solitary  sign  of 
an  inhabited  world.  And  the  only 
sound  was  the  wind,  as  it  sang  through 
the  taut  wires  in  the  unspeakable  sad 
ness  of  minor  chords.  A  came]  cara- 
168 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

van  came  by,  soft-footed,  silent  and  in 
scrutable.  I  waited  till  it  passed  out 
to  the  mysteries  of  the  desert  beyond 
the  range  of  hills. 

I  began  again  to  climb  the  path.  It 
was  lighter  when  I  crept  through  a 
broken  wall  and  found  myself  in  a  stone 
courtyard,  with  gilded  shrines  and 
grinning  Buddhas.  One  image  more 
hideous  than  the  rest,  with  eyes  like 
glow-worms,  untangled  its  legs  and 
came  towards  me.  I  shook  with  fright. 
But  it  was  only  the  dwarf  priest — a 
monstrosity  of  flesh  and  blood,  who 
kept  the  temple.  I  pointed  to  the  light 
which  seemed  to  be  hanging  to  the  side 
of  the  rocks  above.  He  slowly  shook 
his  head,  then  rested  it  on  his  hands 
and  closed  his  eyes.  I  pushed  him 
aside  and  painfully  crawled  up  the 
shallow  stone  stairs,  and  found  a  door 
at  the  top.  I  opened  it.  Lying  on  a 
169 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

stone  bed  was  Jack,  white  and  still. 
A  woman  leaned  over  him  with  her 
hand  on  his  wrist.  Her  face  was 
heavily  lined  with  a  long  life  of  sor 
row.  On  her  head  was  a  crown  of 
snow-white  hair.  She  raised  her  hand 
for  silence.  I  fell  at  her  feet  a  shaking 
lump  of  misery. 

I  could  not  live  through  it  again, 
Mate — those  remaining  hours  of 
agony,  when  every  second  seemed  the 
last  for  Jack.  But  morning  dawned, 
and  with  the  miracle  of  a  new-born  day 
came  the  magic  gift  of  life.  When 
Jack  opened  his  eyes  and  feebly 
stretched  out  his  hand  to  me,  my  sing 
ing  heart  gave  thanks  to  God. 

And  so  the  crisis  was  safely  passed. 
And  the  hateful  science  I  believed  was 
taking  Jack  from  me,  in  the  skilful 
170 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

hands  of  a  good  woman,  gave  him  back 
to  me. 

The  one  comfort  left  me  in  the  hu 
miliation  of  my  petty,  unreasoning 
jealousy — yes,  I  had  been  jealous — 
was  to  tell  her. 

And  she,  whose  name  was  Edith 
Bowden,  opened  to  me  the  door  of  her 
secret  garden,  wherein  lay  the  sweet 
and  holy  memories  of  her  lover,  dead 
in  the  long  ago. 

For  forty  long  and  lonesome  years 
she  had  unfalteringly  held  before  her 
the  vision  of  her  young  sweetheart  and 
his  work,  and  through  them  she  had 
toiled  to  make  real  his  ideals. 

I  take  it  all  back,  Mate.  A  career 
that  makes  such  women  as  this  is  a 
beautiful  and  awesome  thing. 

In  spite  of  all  my  pleadings  to  come 
with  us,  Miss  Bowden  started  once 
again  on  her  lonely  way  across  the 
171 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

wind-swept  plains,  back  to  Europe  and 
her  work,  leaving  me  with  a  never-to- 
be-forgotten  humility  of  spirit  and  an 
homage  in  my  heart  that  never  before 
have  I  paid  a  woman. 

I  am  too  polite  to  say  it,  but  I  have 
had  a  taste  of  the  place  you  spell  with 
four  letters.  Also  of  Heaven.  Just 
now,  with  Jack's  thin  hand  safely  in 
mine,  I  am  hovering  around  the  doors 
of  Paradise  in  the  house  of  the  boys  in 
Kalgan.  If  you  could  see  the  dusty 
little  Chinese-Mongolian  village,  hang 
ing  on  the  upper  lip  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Gobi  Desert,  you  would  think  it  a 
strange  place  to  find  bliss.  But  joy 
can  beautify  sand  and  Sodom. 

Yesterday  my  hosts  made  me  take  a 
ride  out  into  the  Desert.  Oh,  Mate,  in 
spots  these  glittering  golden  sands  are 
sublime.  My  heart  was  so  light  and 
the  air  so  rare,  it  was  like  flying 
172 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

through  sunlit  space  on  a  legless 
horse. 

Life,  or  what  answers  to  it,  has  been 
going  on  in  the  same  way  since  thou 
sands  of  years  before  Pharaoh  went 
on  that  wild  lark  to  the  Eed  Sea. 
Every  minute  I  expected  to  see  Abra 
ham  and  Sarah  trailing  along  with  their 
flocks  and  their  families,  hunting  a 
place  to  stake  out  a  claim,  and  Noah 
somewhere  on  a  near-by  sand-hill,  tak 
ing  in  tickets  for  the  Ark  Museum, 
while  the  "two  by  two's"  fed  below. 
I  never  heard  of  these  friends  being  in 
this  part  of  the  country,  but  you  can 
never  tell  what  a  wandering  spirit  will 
do. 

Jack  is  getting  fat  laughing  at  me. 
But  Jack  never  was  a  lady  and  does 
not  know  what  havoc  imagination  and 
the  spell  of  the  East  can  play  with  a 
loving  but  lonesome  wife.  And  take  it 
173 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

from  me,  beloved,  he  never  will.  Noth 
ing  gained  in  exposing  all  your  follies. 
He  sends  love  to  you.  So  do  I — from 
the  joyful  heart  of  a  woman  whose 
most  terrible  troubles  never  happened. 

PEKING,  February,  1912. 
Mate: 

I  do  not  know  whether  I  can  write 
you  sanely  or  not.  But  write  you  I 
must.  It  is  my  one  outlet  in  these  days 
of  anxious  waiting.  I  have  just  cabled 
Billy  Milton,  in  Nebraska,  to  come  by 
the  first  steamer.  I  have  not  an  idea 
what  he  will  do  when  he  gets  to  Japan, 
or  how  I  will  help  him ;  but  he  is  my  one 
hope. 

Yesterday,  on  our  arrival  here,  I 
found  a  desperate  letter  from  Sada 
San,  written  hurriedly  and  sent 
secretly.  She  finds  that  the  man  Kara, 
whom  her  uncle  has  promised  she  shall 
174 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

marry,  has  a  wife  and  three  chil 
dren! 

The  man,  on  the  flimsiest  pretext,  has 
sent  the  woman  home  to  clear  his  es 
tablishment  for  the  new  wife.  And, 
Mate,  can  you  believe  it,  he  has  kept 
the  children — the  youngest  a  nursing 
baby,  just  three  months  old! 

One  of  the  geisha  girls  in  the  tea 
house  slipped  in  one  night  and  told 
Sada.  She  went  at  once  to  Uncle  and 
asked  him  if  it  was  true.  He  said  that 
it  was,  and  that  Sada  should  consider 
herself  very  lucky  to  be  wanted  by  such 
a  man.  Upon  Sada  telling  him  she 
would  die  before  she  would  marry  the 
man,  he  laughed  at  her.  Since  then  she 
has  not  been  permitted  to  leave  her 
room. 

The  lucky  day  for  marriage  has  been 
found  and  set.  Thank  goodness,  it  is 
seventeen  days  from  now,  and  if  Billy 
175 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

races  across  by  Vancouver  he  can  make 
it.  In  the  meantime  Nebraska  seems  a 
million  miles  away.  I  know  the  heart 
beats  of  the  fellow  who  is  riding  to  the 
place  of  execution,  with  a  reprieve. 
But  seventeen  days  is  a  deadly  slow 
nag. 

I  had  already  told  Jack  of  my  anx 
iety  for  Sada  San  and  of  the  fate  that 
was  hanging  over  her,  but  now  that  the 
blow  has  suddenly  fallen  I  dare  not  tell 
him.  In  a  situation  like  this  I  know 
what  Jack  would  want  to  do;  and  in 
his  present  weakened  condition  it 
might  be  fatal. 

It  is  useless  for  me  to  appeal  to  any 
body  out  here.  Those  in  Japan  who 
would  help  are  powerless.  Those  who 
could  help  would  smile  serenely  and 
tell  me  it  was  the  law.  And  law  and 
custom  supersede  any  lesser  question 
of  right  or  wrong.  By  it  the  smallest 
176 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

act  of  every  inhabitant  is  regulated, 
from  the  quantity  of  air  he  breathes  to 
the  proper  official  place  for  him  to  die. 
But,  imagine  the  majesty  of  any  law 
which  makes  it  a  ghastly  immorality  to 
mildly  sass  your  mother-in-law,  and  a 
right,  lawful  and  moral  act  for  a  man, 
with  any  trumped-up  excuse,  to  throw 
his  legal  wife  out  of  the  house,  that 
room  may  be  made  for  another  woman 
who  has  appealed  to  his  fancy. 

Japan  may  not  need  missionaries, 
but,  by  all  the  Mikados  that  ever  were 
or  will  be,  her  divorce  laws  need  a  few 
revisions  more  than  the  nation  needs 
battleships.  You  might  run  a  country 
without  gunboats,  but  never  without 
women. 

This  case  of  Hara  is  neither  extreme 

nor  unusual.    I  have  been  face  to  face 

in  this  flowery  kingdom  with  tragedies 

of  this  kind  when  a  woman  was  the 

177 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

blameless  victim  of  a  man's  caprice, 
and  he  was  upheld  by  a  law  that  would 
shame  any  country  the  sun  shines  on. 
By  a  single  stroke  of  a  pen  through  her 
name,  on  the  records  at  the  court 
house,  the  woman  is  divorced — some 
times  before  she  knows  it.  Then  she 
goes  away  to  hide  her  disgrace  and  her 
broken  heart — not  broken  because  of 
her  love  for  the  man  who  has  cast  her 
off,  but  because,  from  the  time  she  is 
invited  to  go  home  on  a  visit  and  her 
clothes  are  sent  after  her,  on  through 
life,  she  is  marked.  If  she  has  chil 
dren,  the  chances  are  that  the  husband 
retains  possession  of  them,  and  she  is 
seldom,  if  ever,  permitted  to  see  them. 
I  know  your  words  of  caution  would 
be,  Mate,  not  to  be  rash  in  my  condem 
nations,  to  remember  the  defects  of  my 
own  land.  I  am  neither  forgetful  nor 
rash.  I  do  not  expect  to  reform  the 
178 


The    Lady   and   Sada  San 

country,  neither  am  I  arguing.  I  am 
simply  telling  you  facts. 

I  know,  too,  that  some  Fountain 
Head  of  knowledge  will  rise  from  the 
back  seat  and  beg  to  state  that  the  new 
civil  code  contains  many  revisions  and 
regulates  divorce.  The  only  trouble 
with  the  new  civil  code  is  that  it  keeps 
on  containing  the  revisions  and  only  in 
theory  do  they  get  beyond  the  books  in 
which  they  are  written. 

Next  to  my  own,  in  my  affections, 
stands  this  sunlit,  flower-covered  land 
which  has  given  the  world  men  and 
women  unselfishly  brave  and  noble. 
But  there  are  a  few  deformities  in  the 
country's  law  system  that  need  the 
knife  of  a  skilled  surgeon,  amputating 
right  up  to  the  last  joint ;  among  these 
the  divorce  laws  made  in  ancient  times 
by  the  gone-to-dust  but  still  sacred  and 
revered  ancestors.  Who  would  give  a 
179 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

hang  for  any  old  ancestor  so  cut  on  the 
bias? 

I  cannot  write  any  more.  I  am  too 
agitated  to  be  entertaining. 

I  wrote  Sada  a  revised  version  of 
Blue  Beard  that  would  turn  that  vener 
able  gentleman  gray,  could  he  read  it. 
Uncle  will  be  sure  to.  I  dare  him  to 
solve,  the  puzzle  of  my  fancy  writing. 
But  I  made  Sada  San  know  the  Prince 
Eed  Head  was  coming  to  her  rescue, 
if  the  engine  did  not  break  down. 

Now  there  is  nothing  to  do  but  wait 
and  pray  there  are  no  weak  spots  in 
Billy's  backbone. 

Cable  just  received.  William  is  on 
the  wing! 

PEKING,  CHINA,  February,  1912. 
Well,  here  we  still  are,  my  convales 
cent  Jack  and  I,  bottled  up  in  the  mid 
dle  of  a  revolution,  and  poor,  helpless 
180 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

little  Sada  San  calling  to  me  across  the 
waters.  Verily,  these  are  strenuous 
days  for  this  perplexed  woman. 

It  is  a  tremendous  sight  to  look  out 
upon  the  incomprehensible  saffron- 
hued  masses  that  crowd  the  streets.  I 
no  longer  wonder  at  the  color  of  the 
Yellow  Sea. 

But,  Oh,  Mate,  if  I  could  only  make 
you  see  the  gilded  walled  city,  in  which 
history  of  the  ages  is  being  laid  in  dust 
and  ashes,  while  the  power  that  made 
it  is  hastening  down  the  back  alley  to  a 
mountain  nunnery  for  safety!  Peking 
is  like  a  beautiful  golden  witch  clothed 
in  priceless  garments  of  dusty  yellow, 
girded  with  ropes  of  pearls.  Her  eyes 
are  of  jade,  and  so  fine  is  the  powdered 
sand  she  sifts  from  her  tapering 
fingers  it  turns  the  air  to  an  amber 
haze;  so  potent  its  magic  spell,  it  fas 
cinates  and  enthralls,  while  it  repels. 
181 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

For  all  the  centuries  the  witch  has 
held  the  silken  threads,  which  bound  her 
millions  of  subjects,  she  has  been  deaf 
— deaf  to  the  cries  of  starvation,  injus 
tice  and  cruelty ;  heedless  to  devastation 
of  life  by  her  servants ;  smiling*  at  piles 
of  headless  men;  gloating  over  torture 
when  it  filled  her  treasure-house. 

Ever  cruel  and  heartless,  now  she  is 
all  a-tremble  and  sick  with  fear  of  the 
increasing  power  of  the  mighty  young 
giant — Eevolution.  She  sees  from  afar 
her  numbered  days.  She  is  crying  for 
the  mercy  she  never  showed,  begging 
for  time  she  never  granted.  She  is  a 
tottering  despot,  a  dying  tyrant,  but 
still  a  beautiful  golden  witch. 

We  have  not  been  here  long  but  my 
soul  has  been  sickened  by  the  sights 
of  the  pitiless  consequences  of  even  the 
rumors  of  war  all  over  the  country  and 
particularly  in  Peking.  If  only  the  re- 
182 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

sponsible  ones  could  suffer.  But  it  is 
the  poor,  the  innocent  and  the  old  who 
pay  the  price  for  the  greed  of  the 
others.  In  this,  how  akin  the  East  is 
to  the  West !  The  night  we  came  there 
was  a  run  on  the  banks  caused  by  the 
report  that  Peking  was  to  be  looted 
and  burned.  Crowds  of  men,  women 
and  even  children,  hollow-eyed  and 
haggard,  jammed  the  streets  before  the 
doors  of  the  banks,  pleading  for  their 
little  all.  Some  of  them  had  as  much 
as  two  dollars  stored  away!  But  it 
was  the  twenty  dimes  that  deferred 
slow  starvation.  Banks  kept  open 
through  the  night.  Officials  and  clerks- 
worked  to  exhaustion,  satisfying  de 
mands,  hoping  to  placate  the  mob 
and  avert  the  unthinkable  results  of  a 
riot.  Countless  soldiers  swarmed  the 
streets  with  fixed  bayonets.  But  the 
bloodless  witch  has  no  claim  to  one  sin- 
183 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

gle  heart-beat  of  loyalty  from  the  un 
paid  wretches  who  wear  the  Imperial 
uniform;  and  when  by  simply  tying  a 
white  handkerchief  on  their  arms  they 
go  over  in  groups  of  hundreds  to  the 
Eevolutionists,  they  are  only  repaying 
treachery  in  its  own  foul  coin. 

Though  I  hate  to  leave  Jack  even  for 
an  hour,  I  have  to  get  out  each  day  for 
some  fresh  air.  To-day  it  seemed  to 
me,  as  I  walked  among  the  crowds,  fan 
tastic  in  the  flickering  flames  of  bon 
fires  and  incandescent  light,  that  life 
had  done  its  cruel  worst  to  these  peo 
ple — had  written  her  bitterest  tokens 
of  suffering  and  woe  in  the  deeply  fur 
rowed  faces  and  sullenly  hopeless  eyes. 

Earlier  in  the  year  thousands  of 
farmers  and  small  tradesmen  had  come 
in  from  the  country  to  escape  floods, 
famine  and  robber-bands.  Hundreds 
liad  sold  their  children  for  a  dollar  or 
184 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

so  and  for  days  lived  on  barks  and 
leaves,  as  they  staggered  toward  Pe 
king  for  relief. 

Now  thousands  more  are  rushing 
from  the  city  to  the  hills  or  to  the  des 
ert,  fleeing  from  riot  and  war,  the 
strong  carrying  the  sick,  the  young  the 
old — each  with  a  little  bundle  of  house 
hold  goods,  all  camping  near  the  tower 
ing  gates  in  the  great  city  wall,  ready 
to  dash  through  when  the  keeper  flings 
them  open  in  the  early  morning. 

And  through  it  all  the  merciless  exe 
cution  of  any  suspect  or  undesirable 
goes  merrily  on.  Close  by  my  car 
riage  a  cart  passed.  In  it  were  four 
wretched  creatures  with  hands  and  feet 
bound  and  pigtails  tied  together. 
They  were  on  their  way  to  a  plot  of 
crimson  ground  where  hundreds  part 
with  their  heads.  By  the  side  of  the 
cart  ran  a  ten-year-old  boy,  his  uplifted 
185 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

face  distorted  with  agony  of  grief. 
One  of  the  prisoners  was  his  father. 

I  watched  the  terrified  masses  till  a 
man  and  woman  of  the  respectable 
farmer  class  came  by,  with  not  enough 
rags  on  to  hide  their  half-starved  bod 
ies.  Between  them  they  carried  on 
their  shoulders  a  bamboo  pole,  from 
which  was  swung  a  square  of  matting. 
On  this,  in  rags,  but  clean,  lay  a  mere 
skeleton  of  a  baby  with  beseeching  eyes 
turned  to  its  mother ;  and  from  its  lips 
came  piteous  little  whines  like  a  hun 
ger-tortured  kitten.  Tears  streamed 
down  the  woman's  cheeks  as  she 
crooned  and  babbled  to  the  child  in  a 
language  only  a  tender  mother  knows, 
but  in  her  eyes  was  the  look  of  a  soul 
crucified  with  helpless  suffering. 

I  slipped  all  the  money  I  had  into  the 
straw  cradle  and  fled  to  our  room. 
Jack  was  asleep.  I  got  into  mj  bed 
186 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

and  covered  up  my  head  to  shut  out  the 
horrors  of  the  multitude  that  are  hurt 
ing  my  own  heart  like  an  eternal  tooth 
ache. 

But,  honey,  bury  me  deep  when  there 
isn't  a  smile  lurking  around  the  dark 
est  corner.  Neither  war  nor  famine 
can  wholly  eliminate  the  comical.  Yes 
terday  afternoon  some  audacious 
youngsters  asked  me  to  chaperon  a 
tea-party  up  the  river.  We  went  in  a 
gaily  decorated  house-boat,  made  tea 
on  a  Chinese  stove  of  impossible  shape, 
and  ate  cakes  and  sandwiches  innumer 
able.  Aglow  with  youth  and  its  joys, 
reckless  of  danger,  courting  adventure, 
the  promoters  of  the  enterprise  failed 
to  remember  that  we  were  outside  the 
city  walls,  that  the  gates  were  closed 
at  sunset  and  nothing  but  a  written  or 
der  from  an  official  could  open  them. 
We  had  no  such  order.  When  it  was 
187 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

quite  dark,  we  faced  entrances  doubly 
locked  and  barred.  The  guardian  in 
side  might  have  been  dead  for  all  he 
heeded  our  importunities  and  bribes. 
At  night  outside  the  huge  pile  of  brick 
and  stone,  inclosing  and  guarding  the 
city  from  lawless  bandits,  life  is  not 
worth  a  whistle.  A  dismayed  little  gig 
gle  went  round  the  crowd  of  late  tea 
revelers  as  we  looked  up  the  twenty- 
five  feet  of  smooth  wall  topped  by 
heavy  battlements.  Just  when  we  had 
about  decided  that  our  only  chance  was 
to  stand  on  each  other's  shoulders  and 
try  to  hack  out  footholds  with  a  bread 
knife,  some  one  suggested  that  we  try 
the  effect  of  college  yells  on  the  gentle 
men  within.  Imagine  the  absurdity  of 
a  dozen  terrified  Americans  standing 
there  in  the  heart  of  China  yelling  in 
unison  for  Old  Eli,  and  Nassau,  and  the 
Harvard  Blue! 

188 


The    Lady   and   Sada  San 

The  effect  was  magical.  Curiosity  is 
one  of  the  strongest  of  Oriental  traits, 
and  before  long  the  gates  creaked  on 
their  hinges  and  a  crowd  of  slant-eyed, 
pig-tailed  heads  peered  wonderingly 
out.  The  rest  was  easy,  and  I  heard  a 
great  sigh  of  relief  as  I  marshaled  my; 
little  group  into  safety. 

Jack's  many  friends  here  in  Peking 
are  determined  that  I  shall  have  as  good 
a  time  as  possible.  "Worried  by  disor 
ganized  business,  harassed  with  care, 
they  always  find  opportunity  not  only 
to  plan  for  my  pleasure  but  see  that  I 
have  it,  properly  attended — for  of 
course  Jack  is  not  yet  able  to  leave  his 
room. 

Beyond  the  power  of  any  man  is  the 
prophecy  of  what  may  happen  to  offi 
cial-ridden  Peking.  The  air  is  sur 
charged  with  mutterings.  The  brutally 
oppressed  people  may  turn  at  last,  rise, 
189 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

and,  in  their  fury,  rend  to  bits  all  flesh 
their  skeleton  fingers  grasp. 

The  Legations  grouped  around  the 
hotel  are  triply  guarded.  The  shift, 
shift,  shift  of  soldiers'  feet  as  they 
march  the  streets  rubs  my  nerves  like 
sandpaper. 

Best  and  sleep  are  impossible.  We 
seem  constantly  on  the  edge  of  a  preci 
pice,  over  which,  were  we  to  go,  the  fate 
awaiting  us  would  reduce  the  tortures 
of  Hades  to  pin-pricks.  The  Eevolu- 
tionists  have  the  railroads,  the  bandits 
the  rivers.  Yet,  if  I  don't  reach  Japan 
in  twelve  days  now,  I  will  be  too  late. 
Poor  Sada  San ! 

Please  say  to  your  small  son  David 
that  his  request  to  send  him  an  Emper 
or's  crown  to  wear  when  he  plays  king, 
is  not  difficult  to  grant.  At  the  present 
writing  crowns  in  the  Orient  are  not 
fashionable.  As  I  look  out  of  my  win- 
190 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

dow,  the  salmon-pink  walls  of  the  For 
bidden  City  rise  in  the  dusty  distance. 
Under  the  flaming  yellow  roof  of  the 
Palace  is  a  frail  and  frightened  little 
six-year-old  boy — the  ruler  of  millions 
— who,  if  he  knew  and  could,  would 
gladly  exchange  his  priceless  crown  for 
freedom  and  a  bag  of  marbles. 
Good  night. 

PEKING,  Next  day. 

It  is  Sunday  afternoon  and  pouring 
rain.  Outside  it  is  so  drearily  mourn 
ful,  I  keep  my  back  turned.  At  least, 
the  dripping  wet  will  secure  me  a  quiet 
hour  or  so. 

My  Chinese  room-boy  reasons  that 
only  a  sure-enough  somebody  would 
have  so  many  callers  and  attend  so 
many  functions — not  knowing  that  it  is 
only  because  Jack's  wife  will  never  lack 
where  he  has  friends.  Hence  the  boy 
191 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

haunts  my  door  ready  to  serve  and  reap 
his  reward.  But  I  am  sure  it  was  only 
kindness  that  prompted  him  on  this 
dreary  day  to  set  the  fire  in  the  grate 
to  blazing  and  arrange  the  tea-table, 
the  steaming  kettle  close  by,  and  turn 
on  all  the  lights.  How  cozy  it  is  I 
How  homelike! 

Jack  grows  stronger  each  day,  and 
crosser,  which  is  a  good  sign.  At  last 
I  have  told  him  of  Sada  San's  plight; 
and  he  is  for  starting  for  Kioto  to-mor 
row  to  "wipe  the  floor  with  Uncle 
Mura,"  as  he  elegantly  expresses  it. 
But  of  course  he  *s  still  too  weak  to 
even  think  of  such  a  journey. 

He  makes  me  join  in  the  gaieties 
that  still  go  on  despite  the  turmoil  and 
unrest.  I  must  tell  you  of  one  dinner 
which,  of  the  many  brilliant  functions, 
was  certainly  unique. 

It  was  a  sumptuous  affair  given  by 
192 


The   Lady  and  Sada  San 

one  of  the  Legation  officials.  I  wore 
my  glory  dress — the  color  Jack  loves 
best.  I  went  in  a  carriage  guarded  on 
the  outside  by  soldiers.  Beside  me  sat 
a  strapping  European  with  his  pockets 
bulging  suspiciously.  I  was  not  in  the 
least  afraid  of  the  threatening  mob 
which  stopped  us  twice. 

I  could  almost  have  welcomed  an  at 
tack,  just  to  get  behind  my  big  escort 
and  see  him  clear  the  way. 

Merciful  powers!  Hate  is  a  sweet 
and  friendly  word  for  what  the  masses 
feel  for  the  foreigners,  whom  most  be 
lieve  to  be  in  league  with  the  Govern 
ment. 

Happily,  nothing  more  serious  hap 
pened  than  breaking  all  the  carriage 
windows;  and,  in  the  surprise  that 
awaited  me  in  the  drawing-room  of  the 
gorgeously  appointed  mansion,  I  quite 
forgot  that. 

193 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

Who  should  be  almost  the  first  to 
greet  me  but  Dolly  and  Mr.  Dolly,  other 
wise  the  Seeker,  married  and  on  their 
honeymoon!  She  was  radiant.  And 
oh,  Mate,  if  you  could  only  see  the 
change  in  him !  As  revolutions  seem  to 
be  in  order,  Dolly  has  worked  a  prize 
one  on  him,  I  think.  He  was  positively 
gentle  and  showed  signs  of  the  making 
of  a  near  gentleman.  I  was  glad  to  see 
them,  and  more  than  glad  to  see  Dolly's 
unfeigned  happiness.  The  mournful 
little  prince  has  gone  on  his  way  to 
lonely,  isolated  Sikkam  to  take  up  his 
task  of  endless  reincarnation. 

Very  soon  I  found  another  surprise 
— my  friend  Mr.  Carson  of  the  Kock- 
ies.  It  seemed  a  little  incongruous  that 
the  simple,  unlettered  Irishman  should 
have  found  his  way  into  the  brilliant, 
many-countried  company,  where  were 
men  who  made  history  and  held  the  fate 
194 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

of  nations  in  their  hands  and  built  or 
crumbled  empires,  and  women  to  match, 
regally  gowned,  keen  of  wit  and  wis 
dom. 

But,  bless  you,  he  was  neither  trou 
bled  nor  out  of  place.  He  was  the  es 
sence  of  democracy  and  mixed  with  the 
guests  with  the  same  innocent  sim 
plicity  that  he  would  have  shown  at  his 
village  church  social. 

He  greeted  me  cordially,  asked  after 
Jack  and  spoke  enthusiastically  of  his 
work. 

I  smiled  when  I  saw  that  in  the  curi 
ous  shuffling  of  cards  he  had  been 
chosen  as  the  dinner  escort  of  a  tall 
and  stately  Russian  beauty.  I  watched 
them  walk  across  the  waxen  floor  and 
heard  him  say  to  her,  "Sure  if  I  had 
time  I  would  telegraph  for  me  roller 
skates  to  guide  ye  safely  over  the  slick- 
ness  of  the  boards. "  Her  answering 
195 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

laugh,  sweet  and  friendly,  was  reassur 
ing. 

For  a  while  it  was  a  deadly  solemn 
feast.  The  difficulty  was  to  find  topics 
of  common  interest  without  stumbling 
upon  forbidden  subjects.  You  see, 
Mate,  times  are  critical;  and  the  only 
way  to  keep  out  of  trouble  is  not  to  get 
in  by  being  too  wordy.  By  my  side  sat 
a  stern-visaged  leader  of  the  Eevolu- 
tion.  Across  the  way,  a  Manchu 
Prince. 

Mr.  Carson  and  the  beauty  were  just 
opposite.  I  became  absorbed  in  watch 
ing  her  exquisite  tact  in  guiding  the 
awkward  hands  of  her  partner  through 
the  silver  puzzle  on  each  side  of  his 
plate  to  the  right  eating  utensils  at  the 
proper  time.  I  saw  her  pleased  inter 
est  in  all  his  talk,  whether  it  was  crops, 
cider  or  pigtails.  And  for  her  gentle 
196 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

courtesy  and  kindness  to  my  old  friend 
I  blessed  her  and  wiped  out  a  big  score 
I  had  against  her  country.  How  glad 
Eussia  will  be ! 

But  the  Irishman  was  not  happy. 
Course  after  course  had  been  served. 
With  every  rich  course  came  a  rare 
wine.  Colorado  shook  a  shaggy  gray 
head  at  every  bottle,  though  he  was 
choking  with  thirst.  He  was  a  teeto 
taler.  Whenever  boy  No.  1,  who  served 
the  wine,  approached,  he  whispered, 
"Water."  It  got  to  be  "Water, 
please,  water!"  Then  threateningly, 
"Water,  blame  ye!  Fetch  me  water. " 
It  was  vain  pleading.  At  best  a  China 
man  is  no  friend  to  water;  and  when 
the  word  is  flung  at  him  with  an  Emer 
ald  accent  it  fails  to  arrive.  But  ten 
courses  without  moisture  bred  despera 
tion;  and  all  at  once,  down  the  length 
197 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

of  that  banquet  board,  went  a  hoarsely 
whispered  plea,  in  the  richest  imagi 
nable  brogue, 

"Hostess,  where  's  the  pump!" 

It  was  like  a  sky-rocket  scattering 
showers  of  sparks  on  a  lowering  cloud. 
In  a  twinkling  the  heaviness  of  the  feast 
was  dispersed  by  shouts  of  laughter. 
Everybody  found  something  delightful 
to  tell  that  was  not  dangerous. 

We  wound  up  by  going  to  a  Chinese 
theater.  When  we  left,  after  two  hours 
of  death  and  devastation,  the  demands 
of  the  drama  for  gore  were  still  so 
great,  assistants  had  to  be  called  from 
out  the  audience  to  change  the  scenery 
and  dead  men  brought  to  life  to  go  on 
with  the  play. 

When  I  got  back  Jack  was,  of  course, 
asleep ;  but  he  had  been  busy  in  my  ab 
sence.  I  found  a  note  on  my  pin 
cushion  saying  he  had  sent  a  wire  to 
198 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

meet  Billy's  steamer  on  its  arrival  at 
Yokohama  and  that  I  'm  to  start  alone 
for  Japan  in  a  day  or  two — as  soon  as 
it  seems  safe  to  travel. 

Next  day. 

Honey,  there  is  a  thrill  a  minute.  I 
may  not  live  to  see  the  finish,  for  the 
soldiers  have  mutinied  and  joined  the 
mob,  maddened  with  lust  for  blood  and 
loot.  I  must  tell  you  about  it  while  I 
can ;  for  it  is  not  every  day  one  has  the 
chance  of  seeing  a  fresh  and  daring 
young  Eepublic  sally  up  to  an  all-pow 
erful  dynasty,  centuries  old  with 
tyranny  and  treasure,  and  say,  "Now, 
you  vamoose  the  Golden  Throne.  It 
matters  not  where  you  go,  but  hustle; 
and  I  don't  want  any  back  talk  while 
you  are  doing  it." 

If  I  wasn't  so  excited  I  might  be 
nervous.  But,  Mate,  when  you  see  a 
199 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

cruelly  oppressed  people  winning  their 
freedom  with  almost  nothing  to  back 
them  but  plain  grit,  you  want  to  sing, 
dance,  pray  and  shout  all  at  the  same 
time,  and  there  is  no  mistake  about 
young  China  having  a  mortgage  on  all 
the  surplus  nerve  of  the  country.  Of 
course,  the  mob,  awful  as  it  is,  is  simply 
an  unavoidable  attachment  of  war. 

All  day  there  has  been  terrible  fight 
ing,  and  I  am  told  the  streets  are 
blocked  with  headless  bodies  and  plun 
der  that  could  not  be  carried  off. 

The  way  the  mob  and  the  soldier- 
bandits  got  into  the  city  is  a  story  that 
makes  any  tale  of  the  Arabian  Nights 
fade  away  into  dull  myth. 

Some  years  ago  a  Manchu  official, 
high  in  command,  espied  a  beautiful 
flower-girl  on  the  street  and  forthwith 
attached  her  as  his  private  property. 
So  great  was  her  fascination,  the  tables 
200 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

were  turned  and  he  became  the  slave — 
till  be  grew  tired.  He  not  only  scorned 
ber,  but  be  deserted  ber.  Tbougb  a 
Mancbu  maid,  tbe  Eevolution  played 
into  ber  tapering  fingers  tbe  oppor 
tunity  for  tbe  sweetest  revenge  tbat 
ever  tempted  an  almond-eyed  beauty. 
It  bad  been  tbe  proud  boast  of  ber  offi 
cer  master  tbat  be  could  resist  any  at 
tacking  party  and  bold  tbe  City  Eoyal 
for  tbe  Mancbus.  Alas!  be  reckoned 
witbout  a  woman.  Sbe  knew  a  man 
outside  tbe  city  walls — a  leader  of  an 
organization — balf  soldiery,  balf  ban 
dits — who  tbirsted  for  tbe  cbance  to  pay 
off  countless  scores  against  officers  and 
private  citizens  inside.  After  a  vain 
effort  to  win  back  ber  lover,  tbe  flower- 
girl  communicated  witb  tbe  captain  of 
tbe  rebel  band,  wbo  bad  only  been  de 
terred  from  entering  tbe  city  by  a  bigb 
wall  twenty  feet  tbick.  Sbe  told  him  to 
201 


The   Lady  and  Sada  San 

be  ready  to  come  in  on  a  certain  night — 
the  gates  would  be  open.  The  night 
came.  She  slipped  from  doorway  to 
doorway  through  the  guarded  streets 
till  she  reached  the  appointed  place. 
Even  the  sentries  unconsciously  lent  a 
hand  to  her  plan,  in  leaving  their  posts 
and  seeking  a  tea-house  fire  by  which  to 
warm  their  half-frozen  bodies.  The 
one-time  jewel  of  the  harem,  who  had 
seldom  lifted  her  own  teacup,  tugged  at 
the  mighty  gates  with  her  small  hands 
till  the  bars  were  raised  and  in  rushed 
the  mob.  She  raced  to  her  home, 
decked  herself  in  all  the  splendid  jewels 
he  had  given  her,  stuck  red  roses  in  her 
black  hair,  and  stood  on  a  high  roof  and 
jeered  her  lover  as  he  fled  for  his  life 
through  the  narrow  streets. 

The    city   is   bright   with   the   fires 
started    by    the    rabble.    The    yellow 
202 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

roofs,  the  pink  walls  and  the  towering- 
marble  pagodas  catch  the  reflection 
of  the  flames,  making  a  scene  of  bar 
baric  splendor  that  would  reduce  the 
burning  of  Borne  to  a  feeble  little  bon 
fire. 

The  pitiful,  the  awful  and  the  very 
funny  are  so  intermixed,  my  face  is  fa 
tally  twisted  trying  to  laugh  and  cry  at 
the  same  time.  Right  across  from  my 
window,  on  the  street  curbing,  a  China 
man  is  getting  a  hair-cut.  In  the  midst 
of  all  the  turmoil,  hissing  bullets  and 
roaring  mobs,  he  sits  with  folded  hands 
and  closed  eyes  as  calm  as  a  Joss,  while 
a  strolling  barber  manipulates  a  pair  of 
foreign  shears.  For  him  blessed  free 
dom  lies  not  in  the  change  of  Monarchy 
to  Republic,  but  in  the  shearing  close  to 
the  scalp  the  hated  badge  of  bondage — 
his  pigtail. 

And,  Mate,  the  first  thing  the  loot- 
203 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

ers  do  when  they  enter  a  house  is  to 
snatch  down  the  telephones  and  take 
them  out  to  burn;  for,  as  one  rakish 
bandit  explained,  they  were  the  talking- 
machines  of  the  foreign  devils  and,  if 
left,  might  reveal  the  names  of  the  loot 
ers! 

High-born  ladies  with  two-inch  feet 
stumble  by,  their  calcimined  faces 
streaked  with  tears  and  fright.  Gray- 
haired  old  men  shiver  with  terror  and 
try  to  hide  in  any  small  corner.  Lost 
children  and  deserted  ones,  frantic  with 
fear,  cling  to  any  passer-by,  only  to  be 
shoved  into  the  street  and  often  tram 
pled  underfoot.  And  through  it  all,  the 
mob  runs  and  pitilessly  mows  down 
with  sword  and  knife  as  it  goes,  and 
plunders  and  sacks  till  there  is  nothing 
left. 

As  I  stood  watching  only  a  part  of 
this  horror,  I  heard  a  long-haired 
204 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

brother  near  me  say,  as  he  kept  well 
under  cover,  "  Inscrutable  Provi 
dence  ! ' '  But  (my  word !)  I  don 't  think 
it  fair  to  lay  it  all  on  Providence. 

So  far  the  foreign  Legations  have 
been  well  guarded.  But  there  is  no  tell 
ing  how  long  the  overworked  soldiers 
can  hold  out.  When  they  cannot,  the 
Lord  help  the  least  one  of  us. 

Jack's  friends  are  working  day  and 
night,  guarding  their  property. 

I  guess  the  Seeker  found  more  of  the 
plain  unvarnished  Truth  in  the  East 
than  he  bargained  for.  He  and  Dolly 
have  disappeared  from  Peking. 

Nobody  undresses  these  nights  and 
few  go  to  bed.  Our  bodyguard  is  the 
room-boy.  I  asked  him  which  side  he 
was  on,  and  without  a  change  of  feature 
he  answered,  "Manchu  Chinaman. 
Allee  samee  bimeby,  Missy,  I  make  you 
tea."  I  have  a  suspicion  that  he  sleeps 
205 


The    Lady   and   Sada   San 

across  our  door,  for  his  own  or  our  pro 
tection,  I  am  not  sure  which ;  but  some 
times,  when  the  terrible  howls  of  fight 
ers  reach  me,  as  I  doze  in  a  chair,  I 
turn  on  the  light  and  sit  by  my  fire  to 
shake  off  a  few  shivers,  trying  to  make 
believe  I  'm  home  in  Kentucky,  while 
Jack  sleeps  the  sleep  of  the  convales 
cent.  Then  a  soft  tap  comes  at  my  door 
and  a  very  gentle  voice  says,  "  Missy, 
I  make  you  tea."  Shades  of  Pekoe! 
I  '11  drown  if  this  keeps  up  much  longer. 
He  comes  in,  brews  the  leaves,  then 
drops  on  his  haunches  and  looks  into 
the  fire.  Not  by  the  quiver  of  an  eye 
lash  does  he  give  any  sign,  no  matter 
how  close  the  shots  and  shouts.  In 
scrutable  and  immovable,  he  seems  a 
thing  utterly  apart  from  the  tremen 
dous  upheaval  of  his  country.  And 
yet,  for  all  anybody  knows,  he  may  be 
206 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

chief  plotter  of  the  whole  movement. 
His  unmoved  serenity  is  about  the  most 
soothing  thing  in  all  this  Hades.  I  am 
not  really  and  truly  afraid.  Jack  is 
with  me,  and  just  over  there,  above  the 
crimson  glare  of  the  burning  city, 
gently  but  surely  float  the  Stars  and 
Stripes. 

Good  night,  beloved  Mate.  I  will  not 
believe  we  are  dead  till  it  happens. 
Besides,  I  simply  could  not  die  till  Jack 
and  I  have  saved  Sada  San. 

By  the  way,  I  start  for  Japan  to 
morrow.  The  prayers  of  the  congrega 
tion  are  requested! 

KIOTO  HOTEL,  KIOTO,  March,  1912. 

Beloved  Mate: 

Rejoice  with  me!    Sing  psalms  and 
give  thanks.     Something  has  happened. 
I  do  not  know  just  what  it  is,  but  little 
207 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

thrills  of  happiness  are  playing  hop 
scotch  up  and  down  my  back,  and  my 
head  is  lighter  than  usual. 

Be  calm  and  I  will  tell  you  about  it. 

In  the  first  place,  I  got  here  this 
morning,  more  dead  than  alive,  after 
days  of  travel  that  are  now  a  mere  blur 
of  yelling  crowds,  rattling  trains  and 
heaving  seas.  A  wire  from  Yokohama 
was  waiting.  Billy  had  beat  me  here 
by  a  few  hours.  At  noon,  to-day,  a  big 
broad-shouldered  youth  met  me,  whom 
I  made  no  mistake  in  greeting  as  Mr. 
Milton.  Billy's  eyes  are  beautifully 
brown.  "William's  chin  looks  as  if  it 
was  modeled  for  the  purpose  of  dealing 
with  tea-house  Uncles. 

Not  far  from  the  station  is  a  black- 
and-tan  temple — ancient  and  restful. 
To  that  we  strolled  and  sat  on  the  edge 
of  the  Fountain  of  Purification,  which 
faces  the  quiet  monastery  garden,  while 
208 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

we  talked  things  over.  That  is,  Billy 
did  the  questioning;  I  did  the  talking 
to  the  mystic  chanting  of  the  priests. 

I  quickly  related  all  that  I  knew  of 
what  had  happened  to  Sada,  and  what 
was  about  to  happen.  There  was  no 
reason  for  me  to  adorn  the  story  with 
any  fringes  for  it  to  be  effective. 
Billy's  face  was  grim.  He  said  little; 
put  a  few  more  questions,  then  left  me 
saying  he  would  join  me  at  dinner  in 
the  hotel. 

I  passed -an  impatient,  tedious  after 
noon.  Went  shopping,  bought  things  I 
can  never  use,  wondering  all  the  time 
what  was  going  to  be  the  outcome.  Got 
a  reassuring  cable  from  Jack  in  answer 
to  mine,  saying  all  was  well  with  him. 

Mr.  Milton  returned  promptly  this 
evening.  He  ordered  dinner,  then  for 
got  to  eat.  He  did  not  refer  to  the 
afternoon;  and  long  intimacy  with  sci- 
209 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

ence  has  taught  me  when  not  to  ask 
questions.  There  was  only  a  fragment 
of  a  plan  in  my  mind ;  I  had  no  further 
communication  from  Sada,  and  knew 
nothing  more  than  that  the  wedding 
was  only  a  day  off. 

We  decided  to  go  to  Uncle's  house  to 
gether.  I  was  to  get  in  the  house  and 
see  Sada  if  possible,  taking,  as  the  ex 
cuse  for  calling,  a  print  on  which,  in  an 
absent-minded  moment,  I  had  squan 
dered  thirty  yen. 

Billy  was  to  stay  outside,  and,  if  I 
could  find  the  faintest  reason  for  so 
doing,  I  was  to  call  him  in.  This  was 
his  suggestion. 

I  found  Uncle  scintillating  with  good 
humor  and  hospitality.  Evidently  his 
plans  were  going  smoothly;  but  not 
once  did  he  refer  to  them.  I  asked  for 
Sada.  Uncle  smiled  sweetly  and  said 
she  was  not  in.  Ananias  died  for  less ! 
210 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

He  was  quite  capable  of  locking  her  up 
in  some  very  quiet  spot.  I  was  exter 
nally  indifferent  and  internally  dis 
mayed.  I  showed  him  my  print.  At 
once  he  was  the  eager,  interested  artist 
and  he  went  into  a  long  history  of  the 
picture. 

Though  I  looked  at  him  and  knew  he 
was  talking,  his  words  conveyed  no 
meaning.  I  was  faint  with  despair. 
It  was  my  last  chance.  I  could  have 
wagered  Uncle's  best  picture  that  Billy 
was  tearing  up  gravel  outside.  I  had 
been  in  the  house  an  hour,  and  had  ac 
complished  nothing.  Surely  if  I  stayed 
long  enough  something  had  to  hap 
pen. 

Suddenly  out  of  my  hopelessness 
came  a  blessed  thought.  Uncle  had 
once  promised  to  show  me  a  priceless 
original  of  Hokusai.  I  asked  if  I  might 
see  it  then.  He  was  so  elated  that  with- 
211 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

out  calling  a  servant  to  do  it  for  him  he 
disappeared  into  a  deep  cupboard  to 
find  his  treasure. 

For  a  moment,  helpless  and  desper 
ate,  I  was  swayed  with  a  mad  impulse 
to  lock  him  up  in  the  cupboard;  but 
there  was  no  lock. 

It  was  so  deadly  still  it  hurt.  Then, 
coming  from  the  outside,  I  heard  a  low 
whistle  with  an  unmistakable  American 
twist  to  it,  followed  by  a  soft  scraping 
sound.  My  heart  missed  two  beats. 
I  did  not  know  what  was  happening; 
nor  was  I  sure  that  Sada  was  within 
the  house;  but  something  told  me  that 
my  cue  was  to  keep  Uncle  busy.  I 
obeyed  with  a  heavy  accent.  When  he 
appeared  with  his  print,  I  began  to 
talk.  I  recklessly  repeated  pages  of 
text-books,  whether  they  fitted  or  not; 
I  fired  technical  terms  at  him  till  he  was 
dizzy  with  mental  gymnastics. 
212 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

He  smoothed  out  his  precious  picture. 
I  fell  upon  it.  I  raved  over  the 
straight-front  mountains  and  the  mar- 
celed  waves  in  that  foolish  old  wood 
cut  as  I  had  never  gushed  over  any 
piece  of  paper  before,  and  I  hope  I 
never  will  again.  Not  once  did  he  re 
linquish  his  hold  of  that  faded  deform 
ity  in  art,  and  neither  did  I. 

Surely  I  surprised  myself  with  the 
new  joys  I  constantly  found  in  the  pi 
geon-toed  ladies  and  slant-eyed  war 
riors.  Uncle  needed  absorption,  con 
centration  and  occupation.  Mine  was 
the  privilege  to  give  him  what  he  re 
quired. 

No  further  sound  from  the  garden 
and  the  silence  drilled  holes  into  my 
nerves.  I  was  so  fearful  that  the  man 
would  see  my  trembling  excitement,  I 
soon  made  my  adieux. 

Uncle  seemed  a  little  surprised  and 
213 


The   Lady   and   Sada  San 

graciously  mentioned  that  tea  was  be 
ing  prepared  for  me.  I  never  wanted 
tea  less  and  solitude  more.  I  said  I 
must  take  the  night  train  for  Hiro 
shima.  It  was  a  sudden  decision;  but 
to  stay  would  be  useless. 

I  said,  "Sayonara,"  and  smiled  my 
sweetest.  I  had  a  feeling  I  would  never 
see  dear  Uncle  Mura  on  earth  again  and 
doubtless  our  environment  will  differ  in 
the  Beyond. 

I  went  to  the  gate.  It  faced  two 
streets.  Both  were  empty.  Not  a  sign 
of  Billy  nor  the  jinrickshas  in  which  we 
had  come.  I  trod  on  air  as  I  tramped 
back  to  the  hotel. 

HIKOSHIMA,  Five  Days  Later,  1912. 
Mate  dear: 

I  am  back  in  my  old  quarters — safe. 
Why  shouldn't  I  be!    A  detective  has 
been  my  constant  companion  since  I  left 
214 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

Kioto,  sitting  by  my  berth  all  night  on 
the  train,  and  following  me  to  the  gates 
of  the  School! 

I  had  planned  to  start  back  to  Pe 
king  as  soon  as  Sada  and  Billy  were 
clear  and  away.  But  this  detective 
business  has  made  me  very  wary — not 
to  say  weary — and  I  Ve  had  to  post 
pone  my  return  to  Jack  to  await  the 
Emperor's  pleasure  and  lest  I  bring 
more  trouble  on  Sada 's  head,  by  fol 
lowing  too  closely  on  her  heels;  for  I 
suspect  the  blessed  elopers  are  them 
selves  on  the  way  to  China. 

When  I  took  my  walk  into  the  coun 
try  the  afternoon  after  I  got  here,  I  saw 
the  detective  out  of  the  back  of  my 
head,  and  a  merry  chase  I  led  him — up 
the  steepest  paths  I  knew,  down  the 
rocky  sides,  across  the  ferry,  and  into 
the  remote  village,  where  I  let  him  rest 
his  body  in  the  stinging  cold  while  I 
215 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

made  an  unexpected  call.  For  once  he 
earned  his  salary  and  his  supper. 

That  night  I  was  in  the  sitting-room 
alone.  A  glass  door  leads  out  to  an 
open  porch.  Conscious  of  a  presence, 
I  looked  up  to  find  two  penetrating  eyes 
fixed  on  me.  It  made  me  creepy  and 
cold,  yet  I  was  amused.  I  sat  long  and 
late,  but  a  quiet  shadow  near  the  door 
told  me  I  was  not  alone.  Even  when 
in  bed  I  could  hear  soft  steps  under  my 
window. 

I  have  just  come  from  an  interview 
that  was  deliciously  illuminating. 

Sada  San  has  disappeared;  and,  so 
goes  their  acute  reasoning,  as  I  was  the 
last  person  in  Uncle's  house,  before 
her  absence  was  discovered,  the  logical 
conclusion  is  that  I  have  kidnapped 
her. 

Two  hours  ago  the  scared  housemaid 
came  to  announce  that  "two  Mr.  Sol- 
216 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

diers  with  swords  wanted  to  speak  to 
me." 

I  went  at  once,  to  find  my  guardian 
angel  and  the  Chief  of  Police  for  this 
district  in  the  waiting-room.  We 
wasted  precious  minutes  making  in 
quiries  ahout  one  another's  health,  ac 
centuating  every  other  word  with  a  bow 
and  a  loud  indrawn  breath.  We  were 
tuning  up  for  the  business  in  hand. 

The  chief  began  by  assuring  me  that 
I  was  a  teacher  of  great  learning.  I  had 
not  heard  it  but  bowed.  It  was  poison 
to  his  spirit  to  question  so  honorable, 
august,  and  altogether  wise  a  person, 
but  I  was  suspected  of  a  grave  offense, 
and  I  must  answer  his  questions. 

Where  was  my  home  I 

Easy. 

How  did  I  live  ? 

Easier. 

Who  was  my  grandfather? 
217 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

Fortunately  I  remembered. 

Was  I  married! 

Muchly. 

Where  was  my  master? 

Did  not  have  any.  My  husband  was 
in  China. 

Was  I  in  Japan  by  his  permission! 

I  was. 

Had  I  been  sent  home  for  disobedi 
ence!  Please  explain. 

No  explanation.    I  was  just  here. 

Did  I  know  the  penalty  for  kidnap 
ing! 

No,  color-prints  interested  me  more. 

Had  any  of  my  people  ever  been  in 
the  penitentiary! 

No,  only  the  Legislature. 

At  this  both  men  looked  puzzled. 
Then  the  Chief  made  a  discovery. 

"Ah-h,"  he  sighed,  "American  word 
for  crazysylum ! ' ' 

Would  Madame  positively  state  that 
218 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

she  knew  nothing  of  the  girl's  where 
abouts.  Madame  positively  and  truth 
fully  so  stated.  I  did  not  know.  I  only 
knew  what  I  thought;  but,  Mate,  you 
cannot  arrest  a  man  for  thinking. 
After  a  grilling  of  an  hour  or  so  they 
left  me,  looking  worried  and  perplexed. 
They  had  never  heard  of  Billy,  and  I 
saw  no  use  adding  to  their  troubles. 
Nobody  seems  to  have  noticed  him  at 
dinner  with  me ;  and  now  that  I  think  of 
it,  he  had  men  strange  to  the  hotel  pull 
ing  the  jinrickshas. 

It  was  dear  of  Billy  not  to  implicate 
me.  I  am  ignorant  of  what  really  hap 
pened,  but  wherever  they  are  I  am  sure 
Sada  is  in  the  keeping  of  an  honorable 
man. 

Last  night,  after  I  closed  this  letter, 
I  had  a  cable.  It  said : 

"Married  in  heaven, 

" BILLY  AND  SADA." 
219 


The   Lady  and  Sada  San 

But  the  cables  must  have  been 
crossed,  for  it  was  dated  Shanghai;  or 
else  the  operator  was  so  excited  over 
repeating  such  a  message  he  forgot  to 
put  in  the  period. 

March  15. 

Just  received  a  letter  from  Billy  and 
Sada.  It  is  a  gladsome  tale  they  tell. 
Young  Lochinvar,  though  pale  with 
envy,  would  bow  to  Billy's  direct 
method.  I  can  see  you,  blessed  Mate 
that  you  are,  smiling  delightedly  at  the 
grand  finale  of  the  true  love  story  I 
have  been  writing  you  these  months. 
Billy  says  on  the  night  it  all  happened 
he  tramped  up  and  down,  waiting  for 
me  to  call  him,  till  he  wore  "  gullies  in 
the  measly  little  old  cow-path  they  call 
a  street." 

The  passing  moments  only  made  him 
more  furious.  Finally  he  decided  to 
220 


The   Lady  and   Sada  San 

walk  right  into  the  house,  unannounced, 
and  find  Sada  if  he  had  to  knock  Uncle 
down  and  make  kindling  wood  of  the 
bamboo  doll-house.  But  as  he  came 
into  the  side  garden  he  saw  in  the  sec 
ond  story  a  picture  silhouetted  on  the 
white  paper  doors.  It  was  Sada  and 
her  face  was  buried  in  her  hands.  That 
settled  Billy.  He  would  save  Uncle  all 
the  worry  of  an  argument  by  simply  re 
moving  the  cause.  There  in  the  dusk, 
he  whistled  the  old  college  call,  then 
swung  himself  up  on  a  fat  stone  lantern, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  he  swung  down  a 
suitcase  and  Sada  in  American  clothes. 
They  caught  a  train  to  Kobe,  which  is 
only  a  short  distance,  and  sailed  out  to 
the  same  steamer  he  had  left  in  Yoko 
hama  and  which  arrived  in  Kobe  that 
day. 

Billy  says,  for  a  quick  and  safe  wed 
ding  ceremony  commend  him  to  an  en- 
221 


The   Lady   and   Sada   San 

thusiastic,  newly-arrived  young  mis 
sionary  ;  and  for  rapid  handling  of  red 
tape  connected  with  a  license,  pin  your 
faith  to  a  fat  and  jolly  American  consul. 
So  that  was  what  the  blessed  rascal  was 
doing  all  that  afternoon  he  left  me  in 
Kioto  to  myself.  Cannot  you  see  suc 
cess  in  life  branded  on  William's  freck 
led  brow  right  now  ? 

The  story  soon  spread  over  the  ship. 
Passengers  and  crew  packed  the  music- 
room  to  witness  the  ceremony,  and  joy 
ously  drank  the  health  of  the  lovers  at 
the  supper  the  Captain  hastily  ordered. 
Without  hindrance,  but  half  delirious 
with  joy,  they  headed  for  Shanghai. 

Billy  found  that  he  could  transact  a 
little  business  in  China  for  the  firm  at 
home  and  with  Western  enterprise  de 
cided  to  make  his  honeymoon  pay  for 
itself. 

And  now  that  my  task  is  finished  I 
222 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

shall  follow  them  as  fast  as  the  next 
steamer  can  carry  me. 

PEKING,  APRIL,  1912. 

Back  once  again,  Mate,  in  the  City  of 
Golden  Dusts.  Glorious  spring  sun 
shine,  and  the  whole  world  wrapped  in 
a  tender  haze.  Everything  has  little 
rainbows  around  it  and  the  very  air  is 
studded  with  jewels. 

Soldiers  are  still  marching;  flags  are 
flying;  drums  are  thumping  and  it  is 
all  to  the  tune  of  Victory  for  the  Revo 
lutionists.  But  best  of  all  Jack  is  well ! 
To  me  Peking  is  like  that  first  morning 
of  Eve's  in  the  Garden  of  Eden. 

"What  crowded,  happy  weeks  these 
last  have  been.  Waiting  for  Jack; 
amusing  him  when  time  hangs  heavy — 
even  unto  reading  pages  of  scientific 
books  with  words  so  big  the  spine  of  my 
tongue  is  threatened  with  fracture. 
223 


The  Lady  and  Sada  San 

And  in  between  times?  Well,  I  am 
thanking  my  stars  for  the  chance  to 
doubly  make  up  for  any  little  tender 
ness  I  may  have  passed  by.  Put  it  in 
your  daily  thought  book,  honey,  for- 
evermore  I  am  going  to  remember  that 
if  at  the  time  we'd  use  the  strength  in 
doing,  that  we  consume  afterwards  be 
ing  sorry  we  didn't  do,  life  would  run 
on  an  easy  trolley. 

Billy  and  Sada  are  with  us,  still  with 
the  first  glow  of  the  enchanted  garden 
over  them.  Bless  their  happy  hearts! 
I  am  going  to  give  them  my  collection 
of  color  prints  to  start  housekeeping 
with.  How  I'd  love  to  see  Uncle — 
through  a  telescope. 

To-night  we  are  having  our  last  din 
ner  here.  To-morrow  the  four  of  us 
turn  our  faces  toward  the  most  beauti 
ful  spot  this  side  of  Heaven,  home. 
The  happy  runaways  to  Nebraska,  Jack 
224 


The   Lady  and   Sada   San 

and  I  to  the  little  roost  we  left  behind 
in  Kentucky. 

There  goes  the  music  for  dinner. 
It  's  something  about  "dreamy  love." 
Love  is  n  't  a  dream,  Mate — not  the  kind 
I  know;  it's  all  of  life  and  beyond. 

I   know  what  they  are  playing! 

Breathe  but  one  breath 
Rose  beauty  above 
And  all  that  was  death 
Grows  life,  grows  love, 
Grows  love! 


THE   END 


225 


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